Mandatory Retirement Elimination Act Becomes Law
CUFA/BC Wire

May 31, 2007

Despite indications last week that Bill 31 - Human Rights Code (Mandatory Retirement Elimination) Amendment Act, 2007 - might not be adopted in the spring sitting of the BC Legislature, the bill today passed all the necessary stages and was given Royal Assent late this afternoon as one of the final acts of Legislature before the summer break. This means that on January 1, 2008 mandatory retirement will become illegal in British Columbia.

The passing of Bill 31 into law is the culmination of a year-long campaign by the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of British Columbia (CUFA/BC) to end mandatory retirement in the province. Operating under the campaign banner 65 Is An Age, Not An Expiry Date, the university faculty organization battled stereotypes about older workers and succeeded in persuading the public and the government that it was time for mandatory retirement to end.

CUFA/BC also assisted its member faculty associations at the University of British Columbia, University of Victoria and Simon Fraser University to achieve agreements with their administrations to immediately end mandatory retirement for faculty members at those institutions. These agreements mean that approximately 110 faculty members at the three universities will have the choice whether or not to retire this year. That choice would not have been otherwise available to them under Bill 31. (Mandatory retirement does not exist at the University of Northern British Columbia or Royal Roads University.)

The CUFA/BC campaign website www.AbilityNotAge.ca will remain active until the new year in order to provide information to British Columbians about the transition to a world without mandatory retirement. It will also serve as a resource for individuals and groups in other provinces working to close loopholes that still allow mandatory retirement in some circumstances.