GOVERNMENT senator and trade unionist Kavan Gayle, in charging that the Jamaican society is becoming increasingly ageist, has slammed companies for forcing individuals above a certain age range out the doors under the guise of “pre-retirement leave”.

“This ageism, it does affect people in the workplace, you can’t get certain promotion, some people say ‘a time yuh go a yuh yawd now’, some employers put you on what they call pre-retirement leave which I believe should be banned,” Gayle told the special select committee of the Senate now examining proposals for an Elderly Care and Protection Act Tuesday.

Gayle was responding following a submission to the committee by the Caribbean Community of Retired Persons (CCRP), which, among other things, suggested that ageism should be covered under the proposed new legislation with instructions similar to those contained in the sexual harassment legislation passed recently.

“For example, we hear of older persons, under 65, still working who are being excluded from some training for information technology [IT] et cetera, from believing they are not ready…that’s ageism,” Jean Lowrie-Chin, founder of the 12,000-member-strong CCRP told the committee.

Gayle, in agreeing, said, “I’ve been referred to as ‘elder’, somebody see my grey hair and woe be unto the person who a beg mi something and refer to me as elder, clearly yuh not gweh get nutten; but that’s the kind of society that we live in where we start to stigmatise status, you style certain people…

“It’s going to be difficult to have laws to protect seniors in the public space, but maybe we should consider where it’s practicable — in institutions and certainly in the workplace where we can make it applicable. So it is something that we can consider,” he said further.

He, in the meantime, commended the CCRP on its proposal that a commission for the elderly be established with the passage of the Act. According to the CCRP, the commission should have oversight responsibility for the implementation of the Act, powers to investigate and punish cases of abuse, and holding to account organisations working with the elderly.

On Tuesday, lecturer and unit coordinator for the social work programme at The University of the West Indies, Mona, Sandra Latibeaudiere, in her submission to the committee, called for a National Dementia Plan to be established by the Act.

“Our studies say that there is a six per cent prevalence and Alzheimer’s Disease International says every three seconds somebody is diagnosed with the disease, we still have stigma, we still have persons being diagnosed. In the rural areas people think you have been ‘obeahed’ and so the care and support that you need you don’t get it,” she told the committee.

“For disease like Alzheimer’s, which is a type of dementia, Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease and so over time it gets worst, but in the first stages of it you can actually get medication to slow it down and you can still perform certain things, so [there’s] a dementia plan which Alzheimer’s Disease International has asked us to advocate for our own country,” Latibeaudiere explained.

Opposition Senator Dr Floyd Morris in 2021 had moved the private member’s motion resulting in the formation of the committee. The motion was approved by the Senate in October 2024. The special select committee, following its deliberations on the scope and details to be included in the legislation, will prepare a report for the Senate’s consideration before it proceeds to Cabinet.