Skyddslagstiftning eller åldersdiskriminering? - En undersökning av anställningsskyddslagen ur ett diskrimineringsperspektiv

Sammanfattning: The demographic development with an aging population in the EU and Sweden makes the discussion of age discrimination in working life an increasingly important issue. The prohibition of age discrimination was implemented in Sweden in 2009 by Directive 2000/78/EC, the Employment Equality Framework Directive. However, extensive exceptions from the prohibition are allowed in order to promote a well-functioning labour market. The Swedish Employment Protection Act contains several regulations that relates to an employee’s age, including the priority rules in and the 67-year rule which gives an employer the right to terminate an employee who is 67 years old without objective grounds. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate if these regulations are in conflict with the prohibition of age discrimination and if they can be objectively justified according to the Employment Equality Framework Directive. One conclusion is that the regulations may be in conflict with the prohibition of age discrimination, as the disadvantage of the regulations can be related to an employee’s age. However, practice from the European Court of Justice shows that the regulations may be objectively justified because the purpose of the regulations is to protect particularly vulnerable groups in the labour market, which is considered a legitimate and approved labour market policy according to the Equality Framework Directive. The results show that exceptions from the prohibition of age discrimination are generally accepted in working life and can easily be justified by the EU member states in terms of labour market and employment objectives. Provisions have been found to constitute discrimination only in cases where the measure is not considered appropriate and necessary following a proportionality assessment. What can be discussed, however, is whether the 67-year rule, which significantly obstructs the employment security of older employees, is consistent with the overall objectives of the EU to increase the employment rate of older employees. The conclusion that can be drawn from this is that there is some ambiguity about the boundaries between legitimate and prohibited age discrimination.