There are certain situations when an employer can insist on conditions related to the age of the employee, such as employing someone of a particular age or with a minimum number of years of experience. If these requirements are properly justified, they will not be considered discriminatory.
The difference of treatment on the grounds of age is not discrimination when it is objectively and reasonably justified by a legitimate aim, including legitimate employment policy, labour market and vocational training objectives and if the means of achieving that aim are appropriate and necessary.
example Examples of such differences include: setting minimum conditions of age, seniority or experience for access to employment or advantages linked to employment, setting a maximum age for recruitment based on a training requirement or reasonable period of employment before retirement. For instance, working experience of 15-20 years can be stipulated if this is necessary to perform a highly complicated job.
Under the Slovakian law, differences of treatment on grounds of age with regard to occupational social security schemes shall not be deemed to constitute discrimination if they consist in the fixing of different age limits for entitlement to old age pension and disability pension for employees or groups of employees, and the use of age criteria in actuarial calculations. The same applies for differences of treatment on grounds of age or disability in the provision of insurance services where such differential treatment results from different levels of risk, verifiable by statistical or similar data, and where the terms of insurance services adequately reflect such risk. The Labour Code allows for setting special working conditions for young people (juvenile workers 16-18 years old) and older workers.
Age limits related to retirement and holding some official functions
The Slovakian Constitution sets 64 years as the maximum age to be entitled to receive state pension. However, there is no obligation to retire at this age. Before 2021, the law did not permit employers to set retirement ages. If someone wished to work beyond the state pension age, they could collect a pension and still work. From 1 January 2022, however, reaching 65 years of age might be a legal ground for dismissal of an employee. According to the Act on Civil Service, reaching of 65 years of age is already a legal ground for termination of the civil servant’s contract.
On the other hand, there are few occupations where the law sets retirement limits, such as with university teachers (70 years of age) or judges (65 years upon a proposal of the Judicial Council) or prosecutors (65, upon the decision of the Prosecutor General). These provisions might not be fully in accordance with the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.
The Constitution also regulates the minimum age requirements for acquiring some public offices. This applies to the President of the Republic (40 years), judges (30 years), judges of the Constitutional Court (40 years and at least 15 years of practice of law), the ombudsperson (35 years) and members of Parliament (21 years).
See more about the prohibition of discrimination in employment and discrimination on the basis of age.