Managing age in EU employment law: between non-discrimination and intergenerational solidarity

Abstract

This article examines the management of age in EU employment law, analysing the structural tension between individual rights to non-discrimination and collective socio-economic interests. Adopting a diachronic perspective, it shows how EU soft law has gradually moved from a generational trade-off model to a more holistic approach based on intergenerational solidarity and workplace coexistence. The article then critically reviews the Court of Justice’s case law on age-related derogations under Directive 2000/78/EC, showing that the Court grants Member States a wide margin of discretion when employment policy goals are invoked, often in tension with EU institutional soft law. The essay argues that anti-discrimination law offers only limited protection in this field, due to the heterogeneity of age as a protected ground and the continued primacy of economic considerations.