Older Workers and the Need for Reasonable Accommodation

Abstract

This article is concerned with the close relationship between age and disability and argues that the duty to make reasonable accommodation, a measure intended to achieve a level of substantive equality for disabled workers, should also be applied to older workers. It considers the special provisions with regard to discrimination on the basis of disability and age contained in Articles 5 and 6 of the Framework Directive for Equal Treatment in Employment and Occupation and their justification. It then considers the relationship between disability and age and how the likelihood of having a disability increases with age. It then looks at the duty for reasonable accommodation and the perceptions of employers towards this duty, age and disability. The argument put forward is that some discrimination against older workers may take place because of the likelihood of them developing a disability or long term health problem and that, in order to be properly protected, the duty of reasonable accommodation should be extended to include older workers.