At a glance
Update: 15 December 2025
- The Employment (Contractual Retirement Ages) Bill 2025 (No. 10 of 2025) (Bill) completed all stages in the Oireachtas in December 2025 and is now awaiting signature by the President.
- The Bill introduces statutory rules governing contractual retirement ages, requiring objective justification for mandatory retirement provisions.
- The Bill is being considered at the next stage of the legislative process.
- The Bill will give employees the right to refuse early retirement and seek compensation if unjustly retired before the State Pension Age.
Update: 15 December 2025
In December 2025, the Bill was passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas. Once signed into law, the Bill will require employers to adopt a consent-based approach to contractual retirement ages (CRAs). Employees subject to a CRA below the pensionable age may notify their employer in writing that they do not consent to retire at that age.
Notification must be given at least three months (but not more than one year) before reaching the CRA, or within the employer’s specified notice period (up to six months). Employers receiving such notification cannot enforce the CRA unless retirement is objectively and reasonably justified by a legitimate aim and proportionate means.
The Bill also prohibits penalisation of employees who issue a non-consent notification and introduces a new offence for employers who fail, without reasonable cause, to provide a reasoned written reply. Penalties include a Class A fine (up to EUR5,000), imprisonment for up to 12 months, or both. Liability extends to both the company and responsible officers.
Employers should review retirement policies, ensure objective justification frameworks are in place, and implement procedures for handling non-consent notifications promptly and in accordance with the law.
The Bill which aims to strengthen employee's rights regarding retirement ages, is currently going through the legislative process. The current draft bill provides:
- Employees who are subject to contractual retirement ages below the State Pension Age (currently 66) may notify their employer that they do not consent to retirement at the contractual retirement age.
- Employers who receive such notification must not enforce the contractual retirement age unless they can objectively and reasonably justify the retirement of the individual employee concerned.
The Workplace Relations Committee may award compensation up to two years' gross remuneration or EUR40,000, whichever is greater, for a breach of the legislation.
More to explore
