Equal Opportunities

Well who will be the first to take our employer to court.....
If the TA and the RAF Reserve both now have the retirement age of 60, why has the RNR a retirement age remained at 55????

 

Not quite ready to go to court (and thankfully still have a few years left before the zimmer frame beckons) but it is an interesting thought.

Excuse my ignorance but is the 60 age limit for the TA and RAF Reserve a new thing?

 

Probably no one, unless they wished to risk a significant amount of money on Lawyers. The problem arises with the question "who is your employer?" You are employed by the RNR I assume, therefore where is the equal ops issue, they treat all their employees the same, they all retire at 55. If you consider your employer to be the MOD or government (and can prove it!) you have opened the flood gates.

 

Now that's an interesting conundrum - who IS our employer?

I always assumed it was the RN, and that is what I have always put on my tax return quoting Centurion as the employer's address but the RN is really only a branch office of the MoD isn't it?

The armed forces per se take their instruction from the MoD so the MoD 'employs' the armed forces (including the RN and the RNR) to do their bidding.

 

I think technically your employer is the Crown, and the question would also be is the practice actually discriminatory, some might argue that it isn't.

Peter

 

You could argue that if all reserve force come under one umbrella policy as stated by the MOD, then the RNR must have justified not rasiing the retirement age. That justification can be challenged as unfair as the other services have raised the age, therefore the RNR would have to prove that their reason for not raising that age was well considered and relevant to the service.

Or somefink

 

I am 53 and a bit at the moment and serving in the RNR. Just prior to my 55th birthday I fully intend to test the water by applying for a further extension to my service within the RNR. I have made my intentions known to several high ranking officers within the RNR so they are expecting my application. Watch this space.

 

The three services are moving ever closer with pay and conditions of service so it is very likely that the retirement age will be revied in due course too. I know there was some talk in recent years of reviewing the retirement ages for regular service personnel to have a common policy throughout the military but alas no news on that front to date.

The wheels of change for these things sometimes move slowly, but they do move.

 

The question of who is actually our employer is a very intresting one.

A recent TA communication that I have received states:
New regulations under JPA re-established the requirements for individuals to sign a declaration of insurance if they intend to use their own vehicles on duty journeys. Attached to that communication is a certificate, the last line of which states "In addition, claims for damages or injuries remain a personal responsibility, but such claims may be assisted by the MOD approved ToPaS scheme within the UK only".
It would appear from that the MOD is the TA employer.

Looking at our C442 we require to have a copy of BR 8587 Article 1322 at home to see if the same applies to the RNR!!!

One thing that I would like to know and perhaps someone can clarify this one, why when RNR personel are mobilised, are we the given an RN identity card. If we were all working for the same employer should our RNR I not be valid??

 

All new RNR personnel are issued with RN ID cards.

 

Question ? is there not a danger that if the old buggers like us dont move gracefully into the sunset it will hinder others coming up by blocking places, i know some people find it hard to go, and this must be balanced against keeping valuable personnel.

But some of the officers and NCOs in our sister services are not spring chickens.

i guess its a personal choice as to when the watch is over

 

as i am such a young matelot i dont need to worry just yet, now where is Rodders

 

According to the last National Audit into the reserve forces of all three services, the RNR is some 1000 personnel below the required strength so I don't think that old buggers like us are really going to block much, do you?.