Letter: Age of retirement not carved in stone

Published Nov 3, 2022

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By Michael Bagraim

Cape Town - There is no set legislated retirement age in South Africa.

Many employers have the retirement age in their contracts of employment or letters of appointment. Others have the retirement age set in the pension or provident fund.

Furthermore, some employers have a general rule of a normal retirement age. If none of these factors exist then an employee cannot be forced to retire at any particular age.

If there is a normal or agreed retirement age and the employee works beyond that retirement age the employer can still terminate, fairly, the employment relationship any time after that retirement age.

There has been an interesting Labour Appeal Court case stating that the employer may fairly terminate employment because of the agreed or normal retirement age even if the employee worked beyond the retirement age.

Cape Times

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