Mandatory retirement: Good for some, not so good for others

We can thrive in retirement, but many don't. Louise Harrison of law firm William Fry looks at the good and the bad in mandatory retirement. She talks to Rita de Brún

In Ireland, 2018 legislation increased the compulsory retirement age for most public servants, from 65 to 70. For private sector workers wanting to stay longer in their jobs, some are now arguing that discrimination is at the heart of their being forced to retire.

For generations past, a fixed mandatory retirement (MR) date was one of this life’s few certainties.

Whether that day was anticipated with relief or dreaded by those impacted need not concern us here. Our focus is on the fact that it has long been the norm for workers of a certain age to retire as their paperwork demanded.