The Employment and Labour Relations Court has temporarily stopped the implementation of the Public Service Commission’s (PSC) directive setting the mandatory retirement age for lecturers and researchers at 70 years.
The interim orders, issued by Justice Jacob Gakeri, followed an urgent application filed by the University Academic Staff Union (UASU) challenging the PSC circular.
Justice Gakeri certified the motion as urgent and directed the PSC to respond within four days.
The matter is scheduled for hearing on March 24.
The PSC on March 12, issued new retirement guidelines for academic, research, and non-teaching staff in public universities and research institutions, setting age limits between 60 and 75 years depending on rank, employment type, and disability status.
In the new guidelines, professors and research professors will retire at 70 years, or 75 if they have a disability.
Associate professors and senior lecturers will retire at 65, extendable to 70 for disabled staff. Junior lecturers and research fellows will retire at 60, or 65 with a disability.
Non-teaching staff will retire at 60, extendable to 65 for those living with a disability.
PSC CEO Paul Famba said the guidelines were intended to ensure uniformity and compliance in the public service.
He added that the Constitution and the Public Service Commission Regulations, 2020, empower the Commission to determine retirement ages for academic and research staff in consultation with their institutions.
