Retirement Age is an age in which employees can no longer
able to do their work. However, most companies and institutions do impose a
retirement age, although there is no mandatory retirement age.
For retirement
age, there is no standard and it has become more and more inconsistent. Seventy years is the retirement age of the federal
government and these days, many of the companies and institutions have a
retirement age of sixty-five.
Although sixty-five is the minimum age for
collecting full Social Security benefits and is steadily escalating to age
sixty-seven, at the age of sixty-two, most employees or workers start to
collect their Social Security benefits,.
Studies of retirement preparedness typically assume that
workers will retire at a fixed age, usually 62 or 65. However, the timing of
retirement is largely a matter of choice, and studies that ignore workers'
ability to delay retirement tend to overstate the significance of shortfalls in
their retirement savings.
The labor legislation does not deal directly with the issue
of retirement age. However, it does say that no one may be unfairly
discriminated against because of their age. This means that the employer and
employee must agree on a retirement age.
There are three
possible situations that you could find yourself in:
- Your
employment contract requires you to retire at a certain age.
- You
have agreed with you employer on a retirement age or there is a company
norm.
- There
is no mention of retirement in your contract and there is no agreement.
If you sign an employment contract that stipulates a
retirement age, then you can legally be required to retire at that age. The organization
won't be required to give you notice.
If the retirement age is not in the contract but is agreed
or if there is an organizational norm, then the employer can give you notice
requiring you to retire at that age.
The notice period will be the same as the
notice period for termination of employment set out in your contract of
employment.
When would there be deemed to be an organizational norm?
There is a general understanding that the "normal" retirement age is
55, 60 or 65 but this understanding is too vague to be useful in specific
instances. Indications of the organisation's norm can be found in:
- The
rules of a company's provident or pension fund (but this is not
definitive)
- Company
policy.
If there is no mention of a retirement age in your contract
and there is no organizational norm, then you can continue to work until you
are unable to do your job properly.
Your employer can only terminate your
contract in accordance with the labor legislation (that is for misconduct,
operational requirements or incompetence) and will have to follow the
procedures set out in your contract and labor law.
The courts have found that
it is unfair discrimination for your employer to terminate your employment
services just because of your age. There is no legal certainty regarding the rights of an
employee who works beyond retirement age.
It is thus advisable for the employer
and employee to clearly define the terms of employment after the retirement
age, for example how long the employee will continue to work for and what
notice is required to terminate the employment.
Mandatory Retirement Age
A mandatory retirement age is the age of a person wherein
that person who held certain profession or office is obliged by the statute or
law to resign or retire.
On average, the mandatory retirement ages are
warranted by the contention that certain occupations or professions are too
hazardous (military professions) or require high amount of physical and mental
ability (pilots).
Nevertheless, since the age of retirement is mandated, it
tends to be a bit arbitrary and not based on the definite physical assessment
of the person. Many people view this practice as one form of age prejudice or
ageism.
Most people panic when they hit the retirement age, as they
feel it's the last stage of their life; it is hard to just stop someone from
let's say over active lifestyle and punish him/her to no job or activity.
Retirement age is not the end but the beginning of living
your dreams and doing what you truly wanted to do all your life and never could
due to some reason or the other.
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