Problem with DateFormat on SuSE 8.1

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The following lines throw an error under SuSE 8.1 about no longer being

$epoch = timegm(@{$_[0]}->[0…5])
unless defined $epoch;

Error:
Format.pm: Using an array as a reference is deprecated at
/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.0/Date
/Format.pm line 88.

Should this statement be rewritten or is there something odd about my
DateFormat module?