Centre for Policy on Ageing



The heavy hand of the law: the Canadian supreme court and mandatory retirement
Author(s)	Thomas R Klassen, C T Gillin
Journal title	Canadian Journal on Aging, vol 18, no 2, Summer 1999
Pages	pp 259-276
Keywords	Retirement policy ; Retirement age ; Law ; Attitudes to the old of general public ; Canada.
Annotation	In the past two decades the Supreme Court of Canada made apparently contradictory rulings on mandatory retirement. In 1982, the Court rules that mandatory retirement for firefighters at age 60 violated provincial human rights laws; in 1990, it found that the forced retirement of university faculty and others at age 65 was constitutional. An analysis of the decisions showed that the Court relied on the stereotype of older workers as being less competent than younger workers, and failed to provide older workers with protection against age-based discrimination. The author argues that the unwillingness of the Supreme Court to eliminate mandatory retirement means that ad hoc arrangements driven by changing life cycles, employer needs, demographic changes and legislative actions will continue to arise. (AKM).
Accession Number	CPA-991022254 A
Classmark	G5: G5A: VR: TOB: 7S
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.