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Amendment of section 34.
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23.—Section 34 (savings and exceptions related to family, age or disability) of the Act of 1998 is amended—
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(a) by substituting the following subsections for subsection (3):
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“(3) In an occupational benefits scheme it shall not constitute discrimination on the age ground for an employer—
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(a) to fix ages for admission to such a scheme or for entitlement to benefits under it,
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(b) to fix different such ages for all employees or a category of employees,
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(c) to use, in the context of such a scheme, age criteria in actuarial calculations, or
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(d) to provide different rates of severance payment for different employees or groups or categories of employees, being rates based on or taking into account the period between the age of an employee on leaving the employment and his or her compulsory retirement age,
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provided that that does not constitute discrimination on the gender ground.
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(3A) In subsection (3)—
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‘occupational benefits scheme’ includes any scheme (whether statutory or non-statutory) providing for benefits to employees or any category of employees on their becoming ill, incapacitated or redundant but does not include any occupational pension scheme providing for pensions, gratuities or other allowances payable on retirement or death;
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‘severance payment’ means a sum paid voluntarily by an employer to an employee otherwise than as pay when the employee leaves the employment.”,
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and
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(b) by inserting the following subsection after subsection (7):
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“(7A) Nothing in this Act invalidates any term in a collective agreement, whenever made, to the effect that in particular circumstances, where length of service would otherwise be regarded as equal, seniority in a particular post or employment may be determined by reference to the relative ages of employees on their entry to that post or employment.”.
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