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Guidelines for employers to eliminate age discrimination

The Government has produced a set of draft practical guidelines and the first in a series of Announcement in Public Interest (API) encouraging employers to eliminate age discrimination in employment.

This is part of the Government's sustained programme of public education, publicity and self-regulation to tackle age discrimination in employment following the results of a public consultation exercise last year.

A spokesman for the Education and Manpower Branch said today (Monday): "The draft practical guidelines cover a wide range of employment situations including recruitment, advertising, employment agency services, selection, promotion and training as well as redundancy and retirement."

"Copies of the practical guidelines will be sent to all members of the Legislative Council (LegCo), the LegCo Manpower Panel, employer and employee organisations and other interested parties for comment," the spokesman said.

Besides advising employers on how to develop a set of consistent criteria to select qualified persons, irrespective of their age, in the recruitment, promotion and training, the guidelines also encourage employers and employment agencies to specify clearly in recruitment advertisements that their vacancies are open to suitably qualified persons of any age.

On dismissal and redundancy issues, the guidelines ask employers to ensure that conditions for access to voluntary departure or redundancy schemes, if any, are on equal terms for employees without giving consideration to their age.

Employers are also advised to review from time to time their company policy on retirement, and consider in particular whether a compulsory retirement age is

necessary.

"We are confident that these guidelines, once finalised, will facilitate the elimination of discrimination in employment on the ground of age," the spokesman said.

As regards the API, which will be on television next week, the spokesman said this was only the first in a series of APIs putting across the message that it is ability that counts, not age.