Age Discrimination (1st edition)

Citation

Guth, J. (2008), "Age Discrimination (1st edition)", International Journal of Law and Management, Vol. 50 No. 5, pp. 263-265. https://doi.org/10.1108/17542430810903931

The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations of 2006 (the Regulations) have been implemented to fulfil the European Law obligations under the Directive 2000/78 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation. While the regulations follow a format familiar to employment lawyers by prohibiting direct and indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation on the grounds of age, the many possible exemptions and justifications make this a rather more complex area of law. A book such as this one guiding us through the Regulations is therefore a welcome addition to my bookshelf.

The book claims to help the reader to understand how the regulations might impact on employment relationships, to evaluate possible risks in relation to certain practices and to calculate any action that should be taken. It is relatively successful in achieving all three of those aims. At 350 pages, it is a substantial text and the coverage is comprehensive. After setting out the general framework of the Regulations, covering topics such as who may bring an action and against whom and defining what age discrimination is, the book goes on to look at specific areas of the employment relationships. It applies the Regulations to recruitment, pay and benefits, opportunities during employment as well as the termination of employment and retirement and pensions. The chapters are well structured with a separate index at the beginning of each one and plenty of subheadings making navigation through to book easy. I found locating specific information to be straightforward and efficient.

This book is however by no means perfect. There is nothing particularly wrong with it but there were a number of elements that I found irritating. In places, the style of writing seems to avoid jargon and complexity at all costs and comes across as rather patronising and dumbed down. This is especially so in the first two chapters which give some background on the development of equality law and the particular piece of law dealt with in this book and provide an overview of the Regulations. In fact, I nearly stopped reading this book after the first two chapters because the history and background chapter gives very little insight into the history of the current legislation and provides even less background or context. Rather than include something which is too short and basic to be of any use, it may have been better to simply start with chapter 2 and embrace the fact that this is not a contextual book but rather an extended practical guide to the Regulations.

There are areas where not enough attention has been paid to detail and editing. A number of abbreviations have not been spelt out the first time they are used and there are several examples of poor cross‐referencing. “As mentioned above” is used several times only for the reader to find that there is no mention of the same point above. The same is true for references to previous chapters. Occasionally the information does not seem to appear at all but more often the cross‐reference relates to a slightly different point or context and makes little sense.

I am not entirely convinced that having the footnotes at the end of each section aids clarity or ease of referencing. Having used the book more I have got used to it and no longer notice it as odd but it irritated me when I first started reading the text.

There are some examples of over explanation by the authors. Some basic concepts relating to the English Legal System or European Law principles are explained while others are not. For example, the text has a section explaining direct effect in EU Law but it does so with very little reference to the specific context. In one sense, it is helpful to explain key terms and principles, especially if this book is aimed at non‐lawyers, on the other hand it may be more helpful to provide a glossary of terms.

These minor points aside, I think the book is worth considering further. It is, in my view expensive at £68 and there are cheaper alternatives. John Sprack's Guide to the Age Discrimination Regulations 2006 (Tottel Publishing, £28 paperback) for example is an excellent and well written book covering much of the same material. It is however slightly less comprehensive.

The strengths of this book lie in its comprehensive coverage and careful structure and signposting. It is easy to follow if read chapter by chapter and it is equally easy to dip into for specific information. It uses examples which could and are likely to arise in practice which really helps to illustrate how the Regulations might be applied to given situations. Its weaknesses are related to style and some rather poor cross‐referencing rather than to content.

In my view, this book would be helpful to employment lawyers looking for guidance on the Regulations. Its comprehensive nature, clear structure and accessible, if sometimes too simplistic style, should also ensure that non‐lawyers dealing with employment related issues should find this book useful. It is a good guide to a very complex area of law.