86 year old Secretary sacked

[furryjammies]

There is an article in the DF today about a now 88 year old woman who sacked from her NHS Secretary job for I think fairly spurious reasons at the age of 86. She has won her case for unfair dismissal. Do you think there should be a cut off point for retirement or should you be able to work as long as you want? She wanted to work until 90.

What right does anyone have to dictate when people should retire? So long as someone can do the job who gives a fuck how old they are?

Try telling Nicholas Parsons he’s too old to continue working! 95 years of age and still going strong on Radio 4, sharp and witty as ever.

Everyone’s different, everyone ages differently. A neighbour of mine has recently retired in her late 60s. She’s also decided to stop driving, she felt it was the right thing for her. My dad is 72 and still running his own business.

Definitely not a one size fits all thing.

marymarkle that's not much at all, however, I have know quite a few people die before retirement and I think it's such a waste to have been at school, worked your whole life and never getting the opportunity to enjoy yourself. The pension needs to be higher but then people are living a lot longer.

@BowBeau

There aren’t enough jobs to go round. It’s selfish when older people who receive pensions and have paid off their mortgages are still hogging jobs and preventing younger people from earning a living and paying into a pension. They should have to retire at 70-ish and give someone else an opportunity.

An unpopular view, but I agree 100% with this. It's incredibly selfish, and not 'actually brilliant' at all, like some people here are trying to make out.

If over 70's want to keep busy, take up some hobbies, or volunteer for charity work, don't hog the jobs that younger people need.

As you say, it's very selfish. And so what if some tv stars are working til they are eleventy billion years old? Big deal. Hardly ANY TV stars are over 75/80. Literally just a handful.

The rules for pilots, surgeons etc are based on capability, as they are at any age. It's not unlawful to dismiss someone if they're not fit to do their job.

BA pilots have to go at 55, regardless of how capable they are. Football referees go at 50. Lots of jobs come with compulsory retirement ages.

Secretaries don't, but an 86 y/o would be unlikely to be a wizz on Excel, or other technology. She was probably sacked because she was bloody hopeless.

I actually do know what you mean OP. We had a cleaner who was no longer really capable of doing the job, but she had worked for the company for 20 plus years, so she was allowed to work at a substandard performance for about 14 months till she retired. To get rid of her on capability would have felt like kicking her in the teeth as she had been so brilliant for so many years.

Her boss, breast surgeon Brendan Smith, said Mrs Jolly was a "reliable and meticulous" employee who was being made a "scapegoat" for management failings.

This sums up the case perfectly. Don't assume that age or disability makes someone incapable or slow.

This won't go down well but with the increasing retirement age employers are surely going to have to consider hearing tests. I've seen all sorts of workplace drama caused by colleagues not being able to hear properly.

CurlsandCurves that's a really valid point and look at actors. I assume they are not doing a 40 hour week and think there is a difference between having to work for the money and wanting to do something you still enjoy.

furry People are not living massively longer though. Average life expectancy for women and men is 84 and 70. In general if you are poor you die younger, if you are well off you die older.
And ironically it is the poor of my age like me who have been working full time since 16 while the better off often did not start work till their early twenties.

I think its selfish for people to work past their retirement age.

But Awwlook, if you don't have a decent pension, then you don't have a retirement age. My work pension will net me slightly less than £10 a month. I am not sure if I will get the full state pension, as although I've worked all my life, I am not sure I've always earned enough to pay in. i will have to work until I drop.

@RollerJed - you work in HR? Seriously?

This kind of age discrimination is illegal fortunately.

Many people will have no option but to work well into their 70s and 80s. Those who don't are very fortunate.

As I said, most people in NORMAL, minimum pay jobs that they are doing purely to make ends meet, would rather poke their eyes out with a hot poker than work past 67. Fuck that. I am even thinking of retiring at 60. Hell will freeze over before I work a SECOND longer than I have to.

I have shit to do, hobbies to devote time to, and cruises to go on. I think you must have rocks in your head to work past mid 60's. (I mean in a normal job, not a fucking film star/tv star/rock star!)

noonaim could I ask what your job is?

That's a really valid point and look at actors. I assume they are not doing a 40 hour week and think there is a difference between having to work for the money and wanting to do something you still enjoy.

Exactly OP!

Comparing some poor fucker working 40 hours a week in a factory or boring low end admin job or stressful physical job (or mentally stressful job... ) to a famous tv star or actor or singer is bloody stupid.

People do realise that the UK has record low unemployment and anyone who wants a job could almost certainly get one if they weren't fussy or restricted to school hours Tuesday to Thursday term time only.
People should (and really need to) be allowed to keep working as long as they can competently do their job.

Mind you, would I rather carry on working or take care of grandchildren full time (I don't have any by the way). Might be easier to carry on working

Our secretary (also NHS) is in her late 70s. She’s great, but I would say that as all Trust systems become more automated (and multiple different systems) that it does take her longer and some tasks I don’t ask her to do as would take longer to explain than it would for me to do it. But she has some unique life skills and experience that you don’t always get in the young and patients appreciate her empathy etc.

I work in the NHS as a med secretary. I have to say that at least 20% of my job is helping other people to use the software that is constantly being rolled out, that's after they have had the training, sometimes more than once.

Quite a few of the 'older' admin staff have a shaky grasp on the basics of excel etc and cannot cope when it gets more involved. It's like missing the basics of maths and then someone trying to teach you algebra.

I wont mention my manager who called me in last week because all her work had disappeared......after she spent an hr editing a read only document.

You have a point about people who retired in the past on good pensions, often before the statutory retirement date. Very few people under the age of 70 fall into that category. The next generation approaching what used to be retirement age are nothing like as well provided for and may have no choice. That will only get worse as the number of homeowners continues to fall.

I work in the private sector in the City, and we have a 70 year old secretary here. She does her job properly and I can't see her retiring yet.

Also I'm 62 and while I would love to retire, can't afford it. I'm also bloody good at my job so would be fuming if someone told me it was "time to go" because I'm past 60.

Niccelia I find some people at work like that just now and they are a lot less than 86!

There are plenty of jobs to go around, we have the highest levels of employment since comparable records began. Over 750,000 vacant jobs in the UK currently! We absolutely should be encouraging older people to stay in the workplace if they want to.

Bittermints presumably this lady is one of those who would have a decent NHS pension. She might want to work for fear of the alternative. Work can really define you as an individual and it's the first thing anyone asks you when you meet someone new.

@furryjammies, and things like 'i've sent you that booklet, can you just print it for me because you know how to do that thing' - that thing being print it in booklet form which i've shown you how to do 50 million times and also included a handy cheat sheet which is in the folder and is called HOW TO PRINT IN BOOKLET FORM.