A fight over mandatory retirement for employees of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality is headed to provincial Supreme Court on Monday.
The municipality is expected to ask the court to order a judicial review of a decision by the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission to hold a board of inquiry into a complaint by six former employees.
The workers complained to the commission about being required to retire at age 65.
Lawyers for the municipality are asking for a court order quashing the board of inquiry. They argue a board of inquiry previously dismissed a similar complaint made by a former employee in 2009. They also say it was unfair for the commission to appoint a board of inquiry before notifying the municipality, providing it with copies of the complaints, or giving it a chance to comment on the decision.
Nova Scotia’s Human Rights Act forbids discrimination by employers on the basis of age, but allows exceptions if the employees aren’t physically or mentally able to do their job, or where their continued employment prevents the operations of a pension plan or group or employee insurance plan.