Small businesses are 'sleep walking' into a legal minefield as a result of their ignorance of forthcoming age discrimination regulations, it has been claimed.
Business lobby groups, law firms and insurers say that firms need to be more aware of the legal changes, or they could end up falling foul of changes due to be brought in by October this year.
A recent study of 400 firms by insurance firm AXA has revealed that 40% of small businesses are unaware of the new legislation.
Also, of those who are aware of the changes, 44 per cent have so far failed to prepare themselves, the report says.
Justin Beevor, a partner at law firm Mace & Jones, said that ignorance of the new laws could have costly and time-consuming consequences.
He said: “Small firms balancing tight budgets simply cannot afford to sleepwalk into such fundamental changes to employment law.
“For example, one key change is that a person over retirement age will be permitted to take a case of unfair dismissal to an employment tribunal – which they can't do under the current rules.
“If the reason for dismissal is retirement the employer must follow a complicated procedure of notification and meetings, within a set timescale, otherwise the dismissal could become automatically unfair.”
The Forum of Private Business (FPB), which represents 25,000 small to medium sized firms, said now the final regulations have been published businesses need to start preparing themselves for the changes immediately.
Nick Goulding, chief executive of the FPB, said: “Small businesses need to take time to audit their employment policies and review pension schemes, retirement policies and healthcare arrangements as part of their overall planning and strategy, so they are prepared well ahead of the legal change.”
