header-logo header-logo

Pale, stale, male

20 April 2007 / Jonathan Swift
Issue: 7269 / Categories: Features , Discrimination , Terms&conditions , Employment
printer mail-detail

Can compulsory retirement ages survive the onslaught of equality legislation, asks Jonathan Swift

Is it a truth universally acknowledged that an older man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a discrimination claim? The overwhelming majority of people who have sought the protection of the American Age Discrimination in Employment Act 1967 have been men of a certain age. Hence the rise of the ‘pale stale male’, the stereotype equivalent for discrimination lawyers of the ‘dead white European male’ beloved of social historians. This is not altogether surprising in the US since its Act only seeks to protect those aged 40 and over and, within that class, those with the most to lose have tended to be men in professional and managerial positions.

COMBATING DISCRIMINATION

The prohibition on age discrimination contained within Council Directive 2000/78/EC (the Directive) is of a different nature. It is not aimed simply at discrimination against the old. Instead it seeks to combat unlawful discrimination “on grounds of…age”: in principle providing protection for people

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
back-to-top-scroll