Have you been or hope one day to be young at heart, middle aged or a ripe old age? If yes, then the Age Discrimination legislation coming into force in October 2006 will affect you.

This is the most important piece of employment legislation on the horizon, bringing about fundamental changes in all aspects of the employment relationship and challenging the way we think about age in the workplace.

Alison Love, partner and employment law expert with Hugh James, gives the 'top 10' steps to effectively incorporate the impending age discrimination legislation.

To prepare for the ante-ageist rules, she says, employers should consider the following practical steps:

10. Keep recruitment adverts age neutral. Avoid trigger words like young or mature and requirements for a specific number of years experience which may indicate a discriminatory intention.

9. Eliminate date of birth from application forms / avoid stereotypical assumptions such as grey matter declines in direct proportion to the increase of grey hair.

8. Avoid age-related questions at interview, evidence recruitment on objective criteria.

7. Review harassment policies to cover age, including jokes. A US case confirms that sending a middle aged male employee erectile dysfunction pamphlets could constitute age-based harassment.

6. Review promotion policies, ensure career progression is based on performance, not age.

5. Revisit pay and benefits; critically review any policies linked to length of service.

4. Afford training opportunities across the age spectrum; you can teach an old dog new tricks.

3. In redundancy situations never use length of service as a criterion; doing so could lose skills and know-how.

2. Review retirement; if a retirement age below 65 applies it is unlikely this can be justified and should be increased; also develop processes to notify employees of intended retirement dates / deal with extension requests.

1. Know your employees; collect information on the age profile to ensure compliance with the rules.

Hugh James will be running half-day road-shows covering all aspects of the new age discrimination legislation, from recruitment to retirement, including May 18 at Tredegar House, Newport.

For further information or to attend a workshop, please contact: Caroline Parsons on 029 2038 8222 or caroline.parsons@hughjames.com.