A victory for the government was announced today regarding their appeal to prevent over-65s securing full employment rights. The government’s lawyers successfully appealed against a ruling that gave over-65s the right to claim unfair dismissal and redundancy pay.

The new ruling will mean that an estimated 250,000 working men and women will be without any legal protection if they are forced out of their jobs.

John Rutherford, 72 and Samuel Bentley, 75 successfully challenged laws that prevented workers over 65 claiming full employment rights. However in May the government launched an appeal to reverse the decision, claiming that the original hearing had ignored relevant statistics.

Rutherford and Bentley, in a joint action at Stratford employment tribunal in east London, challenged the Trade and Industry Secretary because both their former employers had ceased trading.

A spokesman for the TUC said “This is a disappointing decision but today’s workers can look forward to protection against age discrimination when the government implements new European laws.”