AI Summary of 8. Protection of employees from penalisation
An employer is prohibited from penalising or threatening to penalise an employee for notifying the employer of their decision not to retire at the contractual retirement age as specified in section 5(1). This protection extends to any actions that could affect an employee detrimentally concerning their terms or conditions of employment.
Penalisation includes, but is not limited to, actions such as suspension, lay-off, dismissal, demotion, loss of promotional opportunities, changes in duties or work location, wage reductions, disciplinary measures, harassment, discrimination, and negative performance assessments. The term encompasses a broad range of detrimental impacts that an employer or a representative of the employer may impose on an employee in response to their retirement notification.
8. Protection of employees from penalisation
(1) An employer shall not penalise or threaten penalisation of an employee for proposing to exercise, or having exercised, his or her entitlement to notify his or her employer that he or she does not consent to retire at the contractual retirement age in accordance with section 5(1).
(2) In this section, "penalisation" means any act or omission by an employer or a person acting on behalf of an employer that affects an employee to his or her detriment with respect to any term or condition of his or her employment and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, includes -
(a) suspension, lay-off or dismissal (including a dismissal within the meaning of the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2015), or the threat of suspension, lay-off or dismissal,
(b) demotion or loss of opportunity for promotion or withholding of promotion,
(c) transfer of duties, change of location of place of work, reduction in wages or change in working hours,
(d) the imposition or the administering of any discipline, reprimand or other penalty (including a financial penalty),
(e) coercion or intimidation, harassment or ostracism,