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What is the Age of Retirement in the Private Sector?

I have been receiving calls from more employees than employers about the determination of the retirement age in the private sector. The reality in Barbados is that in many cases employees continue to work without contracts of employment or at least a statement of employment particulars in accordance with the Employment Rights Act 2012.  In other cases, even where there is a contract, it might be dated and silent on the question of retirement. 

The common practice among some employers is to retire employees based on the retirement age set by the NIS at which a person can begin to receive their full NIS pension. These employers are using the compulsory age of retirement which obtains in the public sector (that is, Central Government and state-owned enterprises), which has been established by legislation such as the Pensions Act, Cap. 25 and the Statutory Boards (Pensions) Act, Cap. 384.

Contrarily, there is no regulation that sets a normal retirement age for anyone working in the private sector. In each private sector organization therefore, the age of retirement is included in the contract of employment or at least the statement of Employment Particulars. In the absence therefore of such a document or perhaps an established custom and practice retiring an employee in the private sector may lead to an unfair dismissal claim.  

To be safe and reduce the risk of by unfair dismissal claims by employees in instances where an employee is compulsorily retired, employers in the private sector should engage in at least two practices. In the first instance employers should clearly state the age of retirement in a contract of employment or a statement of employment particulars. 

Secondly employers should consider establishing a retirement policy that outlines the fixed retirement age, the objective justification relied upon by the employer (outlining the reasons why the objectives cannot be met in any other way), what employees can anticipate as they near retirement, how requests to work past retirement are taken into consideration, and termination of employment upon retirement. 

Employers should therefore be proactive and take the required steps and avoid unfair dismissal claims which may be costly. 


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