The concept of 'objective justification' is hard to pin down partly because it depends on employers establishing that they have a 'legitimate aim'; and there is neither definition nor description of what a 'legitimate aim' may be. If you want to claim 'objective justification', therefore, it is going to be up to you to argue that your aims were legitimate. Even case law, once it starts to build up, is unlikely to help much, because the outcome of each case will depend on its own particular circumstances.
Broadly speaking, however, you only have a 'legitimate aim' which may justify you in treating people differently on grounds of age, where you have a real need, and there is no reasonable alternative: for example (and they are only examples):
- business needs;
- efficiency;
- health, welfare and safety;
- facilitation of employment planning;
- particular training requirements;
- encouraging and rewarding loyalty;
- the need for a reasonable period of employment before retirement;
- a wish to recruit or retain older people.
You will need to be able to prove that:
- you have such a need;
- the form of age discrimination that you are practising is necessary to resolving it;
- the benefits of resolving it outweigh the disadvantages of practising age discrimination; and
- you cannot achieve such resolution from any lesser form of discrimination.
Don't attempt this without taking legal advice: it is nowhere near as innocuous as it looks.
