also sprach Jurij Smakov <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [2008.11.26.1039 +0100]: > Sorry, but I'm with Wolfgang on this one. I'm pretty sure that this > "standard practice" is illegal in most of EU countries (judging by > existence of EU directive 2000/78/EC) and in the US, and I would > expect similar laws to exist in any country to be considered > civilized.
Please get a grip. The directive you quote states Member States may provide that differences of treatment on grounds of age shall not constitute discrimination, if, within the context of national law, they are objectively and reasonably justified by a legitimate aim, including legitimate employment policy, labour market and vocational training objectives, and if the means of achieving that aim are appropriate and necessary. Such differences of treatment may include, among others: (a) the setting of special conditions on access to employment and vocational training, employment and occupation, including dismissal and remuneration conditions, for young people, older workers and persons with caring responsibili- ties in order to promote their vocational integration or ensure their protection; (b) the fixing of minimum conditions of age, professional experience or seniority in service for access to employment or to certain advantages linked to employment; (c) the fixing of a maximum age for recruitment which is based on the training requirements of the post in question or the need for a reasonable period of employment before retirement. If there were a country that required me to hire people independently of age, I'd surely take my business elsewhere. You may be 70 and capable to do a job which required me to invest 2 years into you, but the chance of you waking up dead is far higher than of a 30-year-old. Plain fact, no discrimination. This is the business world, where concepts like return-of-investment are paramount, and the RoI of a 70-year-old, as good as s/he may be, is just nowhere near that of a younger applicant. Note how the job description doesn't say "we don't want old farts" or discriminated in any way. In fact, it nicely informs you about the requirement the company has, instead of e.g. looking at someone's application and turning him/her down for a fake reason to cover up the age. Discrimination is a trendy word which bites, because it's been hammered upon us by the media and politicians to the point of no return, has completely lost its meaning, and has managed to cause serious damage to such things as tolerance and sensible judgement. Please don't succomb to this trend. It blurs your vision and prevents you from identifying and properly reacting to real instances of discrimination. > It's pretty unfortunate that Switzerland does not have any law in > place preventing age discrimination. It's pretty fortunate that Switzerland doesn't blindly follow everything the EU does. -- .''`. martin f. krafft <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> : :' : proud Debian developer, author, administrator, and user `. `'` http://people.debian.org/~madduck - http://debiansystem.info `- Debian - when you have better things to do than fixing systems Escape Meta Alt Control Shift
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