Economics Professor Christopher Worswick speaks to mandatory retirement
Economics Professor Christopher Worswick speaks to mandatory retirement
Economics Professor Christopher Worswick speaks about mandatory retirement on Canada AM . . . view.
SCC rules against miner in forced retirement case
Source: CTV.ca News staff
The Supreme Court of Canada decided Friday that it was legal for a mining company to force a New Brunswick man to retire at 65.
Melrose Scott, a former miner with the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, wanted to stay with the company beyond its mandatory retirement age so he could top up his pension. The company said no, and on Friday, the Supreme Court agreed with that decision.
Mandatory retirement laws were struck from New Brunswick’s books in 1973, but some exceptions continue to apply, including those related to pension plan contracts or collective agreements.
The SCC determined the Potash Corporation made the pension agreement in good faith and not from a position of age discrimination.
“Provided that the plan was adopted in good faith and not for the purpose of subverting employee rights, it exempts the employer from the obligation not to discriminate on the basis of age, even if the mandatory retirement imposed by the plan proves to be harsh, unreasonable or unnecessary to the successful operation of the plan,” stated the judgment.
The Sussex-area man took his case to the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission after being forced to retire in 2004. The commission upheld his complaint of age discrimination, but two other courts overturned it on its way to the Supreme Court.
Scott is currently 68 years old and working at a different company.
All of Canada’s provinces have outlawed mandatory retirement. Nova Scotia was the most recent province to do so — its recently passed bill doesn’t come into effect until 2009.
Friday’s ruling doesn’t affect forced retirement decisions that don’t involve a pension or contract. The Supreme Court has already declared mandatory retirement illegal, saying people above the age of 65 can work at any institution, giving exceptions of certain occupations, such as airline pilot.
Carleton University economics professor Christopher Worswick has studied mandatory retirement and says many researchers don’t view it as age discrimination.
“If you think about it terms of a person’s lifetime, everyone turns 65 eventually,” he told CTV’s Canada AM on Friday morning. “Everyone in a sense is treated the same way.”
In his own research, Worswick found that most people allowed to work beyond age 65 often do so for only four or five additional years. He said workers eager to stay for a few extra years could be instrumental to slowing the drain on the workforce caused by masses of retiring baby boomers.
“The evidence doesn’t support the view that people work longer in the absence of mandatory retirement,” he said. “It’s important to remember that a lot of people do retire before age 65.”