Åldersdiskrimineringsskyddets ställning på arbetsmarknaden

Sammanfattning: The hypothesis for this essay is that the protection of age discrimination in the labour market is inferior to that of other grounds of discrimination due to the fact that EU regulations as well as national provisions allows exemptions for age from the non-discrimination principle. A legal method originating from traditional legal sources is used in order to determine the purpose and use of the regulation and illustrate how it could affect younger workers. In addition to legislation, collective agreements are examined and two areas of investigation; the Swedish 67-year rule and vacation benefits, are reviewed in an exemplifying purpose. The juridical inquiry and analysis illustrate, from a national and an EU perspective, the differences of treatment that can be justified on grounds of age as well as the possibility of positive actions and visualises possible consequences. The analysis concludes that the exemptions does not necessarily undermine the protection of age discrimination, but emphasise that there is risk of applying the exemptions even though purpose and measures can be questioned. The latter in relation to the lack of positive actions confirm the initial hypothesis and can affect young workers in a negative way.