In what an attorney says is the largest award of its kind in Los Angeles legal history, a 66-year-old man was awarded $26 million by a jury that found he was discriminated against and harassed based upon his age by his supervising managers at Staples. A Los Angeles Superior Court jury deliberated for parts of…

A recent study has found that those who say that they are victims of age discrimination are more likely to suffer from a range of physical and mental health problems. The University College London study spoke to 7,731 over-50s in 2010 and 2011. Of these, 1,943 said that they had suffered age discrimination. Six years…

This Scottish case was one of the first to be decided in relation to harassment on age grounds. Harassment under the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 occurs if a person engages in unwanted conduct which has the purpose or effect of violating another dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for…

An employment tribunal rules that an enhanced redundancy scheme which gave greater credit for service over 40 was unlawful as the employer could not identify a legitimate aim for the less favourable treatment of the younger employees. In calculating compensation, the tribunal based this on the difference between the payments made to the claimants and…

Mrs Martin worked as a cleaner for a dentist. She was left a note in her cleaning cupboard just two days after her 70th birthday stating that due to her age and ill health reasons she presented a health and safety risk and, therefore, was dismissed. Mrs Martin brought a claim of direct age discrimination.…

The decision of the Northern Ireland employment tribunal in McCoy v McGregor and Sons Ltd (24.10.07, ET case no.00237/07IT) is a cautionary tale for employers who have not eliminated age-related language and questions from their recruitment exercises. The employer’s advertisement for a timber sales representative asked for someone with ‘youthful enthusiasm’.  One of the applicants, who was…

The requirement for recent “hands on” experience was not age discriminatory. Facts A 50 year old man applied for a human resources job, but was not shortlisted and was told that he was “over qualified”. He brought claims for both direct and indirect age discrimination, alleging that he did not get the job because of…

In order to save costs, polices forces across the country are being told to retire forcibly some of their most experienced officers. Whilst many other public sector organisations are making redundancies to deal with impact of the cuts, this option is not available to the police force. Fully sworn officers are Crown servants, not employees,…

A teacher, Ms Dippenaar, was employed by Bethnal Green and Shoreditch Education Trust (the “Education Trust”). She had 12 years’ service and was on the highest grade for a teacher of her status. Ms Dippenaar had received positive and satisfactory teaching assessments between 2006 and 2012. A new Head of Faculty/Director of Learning was appointed…

In these joined decisions, the ECJ has held that a term in a collective agreement which provides that the pay of a public sector employee is determined by reference to their age is unlawful. The facts Mr Mai was employed by Land of Berlin and Ms Hennigs was employed by Eisenbahn-Bundesamt, a German federal authority.…