Is It Now Unlawful To Discriminate Against Older People?

In terms of employment it is now illegal to discriminate against people on the grounds of their age.  This came into force in the UK on 1st October, 2006.
Age discrimination laws make it unlawful to discriminate on the grounds of age in all aspects of employment.  So the law relates to all employees but also to all applicants for a job, contract staff, even agency workers and partner bodies.
Often when we think about age discrimination, we think of older people being denied access to jobs, but this is not in fact the case.  Younger people are often barred from applying for jobs because they do not have the experience.  So managers will now be unable to give senior positions to older people simply on the grounds that they have more experience and 'authority' this would be unlawful.
The legislationa lso makes it unlawful to sue on the grounds of harassment.  So if another employee jokes about a colleague's age, a case could be taken against the employer.  Thsi is so, even if the joker did not intend to cause offence.  The key issue is whether someone was offended.