The respondent terminated the employment of the appellant on the basis that she had come to the retirement age of 65 years of age. The appellant lodged a claim to the rights commissioner seven months after she was dismissed. The Unfair Dismissals Acts, 1997 to 2007 state that a claim against a former employer must be lodged within six months of the day of dismissal, although this time limit can however be extended to twelve months where exceptional circumstances are found. 

The appellant claimed that she was so shocked about her sudden retirement that it led to her being in a depressive state for some time and as a result prevented her from lodging the claim within time. The tribunal found that there were exceptional circumstances which justified an extension of the time limit for the appellant’s claim. 

The respondent case was based on the fact that the appellant had attended a pre-retirement course and that the company policy was that staff retired at the age of 65 years of age. Indeed evidence was adduced that the employee handbook of 2005 states that retirement is at the age of 65 and despite being updated this remained the same. 

The Claimant indeed had used the employee handbook as a general guide and template when completing contracts for other staff but acknowledged that she had referred to her handbook for certain terms and conditions of her employment (for example, her annual entitlements). 

The court held that the claimant’s employment terminated as a result of her reaching the normal retirement age of 65 and as a result of Section 2 (1) (b) of the Unfair Dismissal Acts, 1977 to 2007 which provides that the Act does not apply to “an employee who is dismissed and who, on or before the date of his dismissal, had reached the normal retiring age for employees of the same employer in similar employment...”. As a result the court held that the claimant’s claim failed. 
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