Employees gain new right to stay in work until State pension age

The changes give workers whose contracts require them to retire before the State pension age of 66 the right to remain in employment until they become eligible for the pension.

The move is expected to benefit thousands of employees who would otherwise have been required to retire at 65, leaving a one-year gap before receiving the State pension. Workers are not obliged to remain in employment beyond their contractual retirement age.

The legislation does not apply where the contractual retirement age is 66 or above, or where retirement ages are prescribed by law, including for members of An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces. Most public and civil servants have had a compulsory retirement age of 70 since 2018.

Employees wishing to remain in work must notify their employer between three and 12 months before their intended retirement date.

Employers must consider such requests and, if they intend to enforce a contractual retirement age, respond in writing within one month.

Any decision to require retirement must be objectively and reasonably justified by a legitimate aim, with the employer demonstrating that enforcing the retirement age is an appropriate and necessary means of achieving that aim.