2005-2006

Class 1 : Feb. 28, 2006, 16h15-19h, Leclercq 51
What's wrong with Age Discrimination in Employment ? - The Legal Perspective

Denis Martin, European Union, Legal Service, Brussels
Dr. Martin holds a PhD in Law (Louvain) and is the author of « Egalité et non-discrimination dans la jurisprudence communautaire - Etude critique à la lumière d'une approche comparatiste » (Brussels, Bruylant, forthcoming). He is a specialist of discrimination issues.
Discrimination on grounds of age in EC case-law - a comparison with the jurisprudence of US and Canadian supreme courts

Marie Bruns-Mercat, Chaire de droit social, Conservatoire national des arts et métiers, Paris
Professor Bruns-Mercat is the author of Vieillissement et droit à la lumière du droit français et du droit américain (Paris, LGDJ, 2001). She is a specialist of issues of age and discrimination and has published articles in journals such as Revue française des affaires sociales, Gérontologie et société and Elder Law (among others)

Class 2 : Feb 28, 2006, 16h15-18h15, Leclercq 51
What's wong with Age Discrimination in Employment ? - The Ethical Perspective

Axel Gosseries, Chercheur Qualifié FNRS, Chaire Hoover d'éthique économique et sociale is the author of Penser la justice entre les générations (Paris : Aubier-Flammarion, 2004) and of various articles in the field, including « Are Seniority Privileges Unfair ? » (Economics and Philosophy, 2004).

Class 3 : March 7, 2006, 16h15-18h30, Leclercq 51
Is there such a thing as age discrimination in employment ? (with emphasis on the sociological dimension)

Gérard Plumier is French and in his mid-fifties. He is currently unemployed after having held jobs in various sectors. He recently published Chômage Senior. Abécédaire de l'indifférence, Paris : L'Harmattan, 2005.

Guillaume Huyez is a young French sociologist who recently defended his PhD at Paris 5, Sorbonne. In his thesis, La Fabrication des salariés vieillissants. Pratiques d'entreprises et perspectives d'avenir professionnel, he highlighted the role of managerial practices on the ageing process and on the retirement decisions of ageing workers. He's lecturing on sociology at the Université du Havre and was recently awarded a Research assistantship at the University of Liège. He mostly works on diversity management and age policy.

Class 4 : March 14, 2006, 16h15-18h15, Leclercq 51
What are the causes of age discrimination in employment ? (with emphasis on the economic factors)

Mathias Hungerbühler, Department of Economics, Facultés universitaires NDP à Namur
Dr. Hungebühler has forthcoming articles in Review of Economic Studies and Labour Economics. He currently works on issues related to early retirement.

André Leurs is a Legal Advisor at the ACV-CSC (trade union). He works on collective and individual labour law, is a senior negociator for the ACV-CSC at the national labour council as well as in charge of the contacts between the ACV-CSC and the Centre for equal opportunities and opposition to racism. He is also a judge in the Brussels Labour Court.

Class 5 : March 28 (not 21 !), 2006, 15h-18h30 (MINI-SYMPOSIUM)
Age Discrimination in Employment : can things be changed (and how)?

Willem Goedhard, MD, PhD is a (retired) Professor of Occupational Health and Aging (Free University of Amsterdam), the Chairman of the Scientific Committee "Aging and Work" of the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) as well as the Chairman of the Netherlands Foundation of Occupational Health and Aging.

Anne Himpens is coordinator of the Belgian initiative Ervaringsfonds at the Federal Public Service of Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue. She spent most of her career in the private sector (Belgian affiliates of multinationals) in Human Resources.  Being confronted with restructuring in her late fourties, she decided to re-focus her career, working on the topic of the aging labour force in Belgium.

Geert De Cock is Policy Officer at AGE, the European Platform of Older People (Brussels). He monitors European anti-discrimination policies and brings together a network of older people's organisations engaged in combating discrimination.