The House of Lords has dismissed an appeal from two men who were denied legal protection against dismissal because they were over 65.

John Rutherford was 67 years old in 1998 when he lost his job as a production room controller at Harvest Town Circle, which has since been wound up. Samuel Bentley was aged 73 in 2001 when he was dismissed from Bodner Elem, which went into receivership.

The men took their case to an employment tribunal in Stratford, London. Their legal teams argued that twice as many men as women want to work beyond the age of 65.

The Tribunal ruled that they had suffered indirect sexual discrimination. However, this ruling was overturned by the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT). The Court of Appeal upheld the EAT’s decision in 2004.

Brian Palmer, partner at London law firm Charles Russell, said: “The decision denies protection to workers over 65 and many thousands of claims, which had been stayed by Tribunals, will now be dismissed.”

New age discrimination laws come into effect in the UK in October, which will make it more difficult for employers to set a compulsory retirement age below 70.

In these cases, other younger workers were kept on by the companies. In future, a worker would be able to bring a claim for unfair dismissal if he was selected for redundancy simply on grounds of age.