Staff 'slow to take advantage of new age rights'

Employees are reportedly proving slow in their moves to take advantage of new rights given to them via age discrimination legislation, it has been claimed.

Speaking after the recent publication of the Acas annual report, Chris Ball, chief executive of The Age and Employment Network said this is despite age discrimination being the most common type of such prejudice experienced in the office.

He told onrec.com the fears of a deluge of cases under the new legislation has not occurred, with 2,652 cases heard in 2007-8 and 120 reaching tribunal hearings.

Mr Ball said: "In looking for reasons behind this, perhaps it is because individuals are still poorly informed about what their new rights mean and how to enforce them."

He added another contributing factor could be employees being unable to take the financial strain of pursuing such a case.

The Third Age Foundation claims the average age of accountants is rising, which means this issue could affect those with accountancy jobs in London and elsewhere in the UK.

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