The UK courts and the CJEU have often treated age discrimination as a less serious form of discrimination. This is reflected in the courts’ reluctance to offer rigorous scrutiny when evaluating whether age-differential treatment is objectively justified under anti-discrimination law. Further, a number of judges have asserted that age discrimination must be understood as different to other forms of discrimination, such as race or sex discrimination. This paper argues that age discrimination is not fundamentally different or prima facie less serious than other forms of discrimination. Age discrimination can undermine the same principles that paradigm forms of discrimination also undermine, including: creating inequality of opportunity by disadvantaging people because of a trait that is outside a person's control; undermining social equality by creating a hierarchy of social status between different groups; violating autonomy by diminishing people's capacity to have control over their lives; and communicating disrespect by conveying that particular groups have a diminished moral or social worth. It follows, contrary to the approach of much of the case law, that the courts should offer rigorous scrutiny of age-differential treatment to identify these harms and only permit age distinctions that are strictly tailored to enhance equality or other important values.

中文翻译：

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年龄歧视是一种不太严重的歧视形式吗？

英国法院和欧洲法院通常将年龄歧视视为一种不太严重的歧视形式。这反映在法院在评估年龄差别待遇在反歧视法下是否客观合理时不愿提供严格的审查。此外，一些法官断言，必须将年龄歧视理解为不同于其他形式的歧视，例如种族或性别歧视。本文认为，与其他形式的歧视相比，年龄歧视并没有根本不同或表面上没有那么严重。年龄歧视会破坏范式歧视也会破坏的相同原则，包括： 由于个人无法控制的特征而使人们处于不利地位，从而造成机会不平等；通过在不同群体之间建立社会地位等级来破坏社会平等；通过削弱人们控制自己生活的能力来侵犯自主权；通过传达特定群体的道德或社会价值下降来传达不尊重。因此，与大多数判例法的做法相反，法院应严格审查年龄差异待遇以识别这些危害，并且只允许为增强平等或其他重要价值观而严格定制的年龄差异。