Older staff ‘face job cut threat’

Older workers and pregnant women have been warned that their jobs could be under greater threat than most while the country struggles to cope with its economic problems. A number of employment lawyers have said they saw an increase in the number of age discrimination cases at the back end of 2010 as well as large rise in the amount of unfair dismissal cases involving pregnant women. The trend suggests that companies could be trying to cut jobs that belong to older, more experienced staff who are on higher wages compared to younger workers. While the statistics show that there has been a decline in the number of unfair dismissal claims launched overall, this is likely to have been as a result of large swathes of staff already having been let go from companies. The rise in the number of discrimination claims suggests that accounts departments are winning the battle with human resources in a large number of private firms. Our Employment team provides advice on the employment aspects of all major business decisions. For advice, contact a member of the team: call us on 08456 381381 or email employment@ibblaw.co.uk.