Increasingly Human Law Mediation is dealing with issues relating to elderly workers both in an employment law and a mediation capacity.
My experience of conflict or a dispute is there are some fundamental dymanics which are the same.
You have 2 or more different parties and there is some kind of problem e.g either the Employee has done something wrong or the Employer is just trying to ensure the business makes money and it wants to sack or discipline a member of staff.
You go down some kind of legal route and then you either reach Compromise or a you reach a bitter Court case.
This kind of scenrio happens in cases involving age, but within age cases there are added edges which both parties need to recognise.
1 Old people to some extent do not receive respect in the society and by extension in the workplace. I have attended events involving lawyers where younger lawyers do not treat older lawyers with much interest or respcet. Hence if I make an effort to speak to a lawyer above 50, it is generally appreciated.
2 Often older executives are fundamentally scared. When I deal with elderly executives they are scarred of losing their jobs because they think this could be their last one of earning at such a high amount. As a consequence it means from their point of view there is more at scope.
3 Legislation is beginning to favour them. The default retirement age which was threatened by the Heyday case is on its last days. With the so called grey vote rising in numbers, no political party is going to alienate elderly workers. As a consequence, dismissing or discriminating an elderly worker is going to become more complex.
There are legal and emotional barriers which need to be dealt with in handling conflict at this level.
Justin Patten, Mediator