Prohibition of Age Discrimination in the context of Implementation of the Constitutional Principle of Freedom of Work

Discrimination is one of the main obstacles to the implementation of the constitutional principle of freedom of work, including by persons of pre-retirement and retirement age. At the same time, the principles of prohibition of discrimination in the field of work and freedom of work in many cases act in relation to each other as a necessary condition for the realization of the right to work. The attitude towards age as a sign of discrimination differs from the approach to other discriminatory grounds both in legislation and in law enforcement practice. The main prerequisite for such an ambiguous view of this discriminatory feature is the lack of its constitutional consolidation. Moreover, age as an element of the principle of equality was absent in the Soviet constitutional and labor legislation, and it was included in the current Labor Code of the Russian Federation only in 2006. The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, in essence, acknowledges that it is permissible in some cases to establish age restrictions for certain positions, and to use special legal regulation of labor relations with the participation of pensioners, i.e., in fact, on the basis of an age criterion. The paper substantiates the idea of expediency of supplementing the Constitution of the Russian Federation in the future with a provision prohibiting discrimination based on age. At the same time, even before making appropriate amendments, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation has all the formal grounds to adjust the age as the basis of discrimination, which would ensure the full implementation of the constitutional principle of freedom of labor in regulating labor relations involving persons of pre-retirement and retirement age.

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