In some circumstances, yes. Age discrimination is legal for employers where it is objectively justified. This is a strict test based on EU law. Employers would need to show that their actions were intended to achieve a legitimate aim, and were an appropriate and necessary means of achieving that aim.
For example, in a direct discrimination case, it may be argued that workers over 50 should receive higher redundancy payments for each year of service because of the difficulties that they are likely to face in finding alternative employment. However, it would have to be shown that older workers are more likely than others to be at greater risk of unemployment than other workers and that the higher payments were proportionate to that greater risk.
A promotion system based on having more than 15 years’ experience within the company, or in a particular industry, could well be indirectly discriminatory, as it disadvantages younger workers who have not had the chance to gain as much experience. An employer could attempt to justify such a policy by showing that carrying out the job at the higher level actually required such a long period of relevant experience. However, it might be manageable and possible for the company to assess potential capability in other less discriminatory ways, rather than apply an arbitrary length of service filter, in which case the promotion system will be harder to justify.
