Asking about plans to retire

I've read some information about court decisions that say it's okay to ask employees about their plans for retirement (i.e. when do you plan to retire) when a company needs the information for succession planning, reorg, etc., but I also recently read that a court said asking that kind of question can be used as evidence of age discrimination.  Has anyone ever had to do this kind of inquiry and is it better to ask all employees about their plans for the next few years or just those that may be closer to retirement or are there better approaches?

Comments

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  • Unfortunatley, you can find + and - rulings on any one issue from the courts up until a ruling from the Supremes.  A lot has to do with the general environment in which the question is asked, some of which may not be known to HR, such as an unreported concern about ADEA violations by a person over 40.

    Perception is almost everything.  The part that isn't perception is simply greed.  If you ask everyone, a person aged 41 may perceive it to be an age based invitation to leave but a person aged 63 may think it's a perfectly reasonable question.  A third person of any age 40+ may simply think it's an opportunity to make a quick buck in a settlement.

    My experience has been that this is easier as you go higher up the ladder.  I generally find fewer conspiracy theorists in top management than on the shop/sales floor.  Consequently, I'd think that you'd only want to ask of people in key positions that are difficulty to staff either due to the company specific knowledge requirements or the rarity of the skill set.  That gives you a leg to stand on in terms of making the case that you are asking for a bone fide business reason.  A quick attorney check couldn't hurt.  If this isn't settled by the Supremes, then you have circuit differences to be concerned about or, even if in only one circuit, you need to know what your own circuit's stance is on this matter.  State law may apply as well.

  • I totally agree with TXHRGuy on this one. This is not a can of worms that I would open without having very specific documented business reasons for doing so (i.e. it is a key employee, hard to replace, succession planning, etc).

     

  • I agree with the other two postings that this is a very tricky thing.  For succession planning reasons I have asked key executives and high level managers about future career goals (I have never phrased the question in regards to retirement).  I have had executives/managers say things like "I plan on retiring in the next 5 years" but I have never used the word retirement or asked about plans for retirement during these discussions.  I think you can get essentially the same information you want by rewording the conversation.

    In the past when we have had numerous lower level positions available I have had managers discuss with employees what their career goals were during annual performance reviews.  This gave us (meaning HR and the managers) the opportunity to see where people wanted to go and work on plans to make sure they developed the skills and got the training they needed to work towards these goals. 

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