YOUNGER workers could have their promotion hopes dashed by new age discrimination rules.

New legislation coming in next October would mean some older workers staying longer at firms.

"If older workers are not moving on there's a risk that the younger people might not be promoted," said solicitor Danielle Cheal, head of the employment unit at Bournemouth-based law firm Ellis Jones.

"This new law will impact on all workers - young, middle-aged, older," she told a Select Appointments seminar at the Marsham Court Hotel, Bournemouth.

"It's going to open the floodgates (for claims to employment tribunals) - age discrimination is going to be the next new claim after sex discrimination."

A study by the Employers Forum on Age had already suggested that age discrimination had affected 25 per cent of school leavers.

Under the new legislation:

Forced retirement on grounds of age will be banned;

Employers will instead be forced to "consider" workers' requests to work beyond the age of 65;

There will continue to be no national fixed retirement age (although at this stage this should not affect when state pensions are paid);

The current age limit of 65 on claims of unfair dismissal or redundancy will be abolished;

Employees must be given at least six months' advance notice of their intended retirement date.

Some employers already fear the new legislation will mean an older workforce with expensive health problems and higher rates of sickness absence, added Ms Cheal.

First published: October 14