Equal Rights.....For Some.....

So, on the 1st of October, the UK government brought in new legislation to make discrimination by employers on the basis of age illegal. This was done to combat the fact that the population is getting older, and people simply want to work longer, rather than be forced to retire at 65 and live out a very long retirement with little cash and only boredom on the menu.

The problem is, government legislation on minimum wages still discriminates on the basis of age. If you're under eighteen, it's perfectly legal apparently to still pay you less than if you were over eighteen, regardless of your ability to do the job. The same is true at the age of twenty one.

There is talk that the new legislation may lead to challenges to the legality of the minimum wage rules. I hope so, because frankly, crowing about your wonderful new moves to make everyone even more equal is somewhat hollow when there is still legislation on the books that encourages employers to penalize people based on when they were born.