An employment tribunal recently awarded over 50,000 in compensation for indirect age discrimination and unfair dismissal to an employee who successfully claimed that his redundancy scoring was discriminatory on the grounds of age, and that a botched redundancy consultation process had rendered his dismissal unfair.
The employee, N, worked as a senior construction consultant for a major discount supermarket chain. He had over 20 years’ service and was aged in his 60s, making him the oldest member of the team - his two colleagues were in their 30s. N was made redundant in March 2023, due to a restructure which saw a headcount reduction of three to one. The employer used a redundancy selection matrix, which gave scores for experience, knowledge, skills, performance, and disciplinary record. N placed second on the matrix and was selected for redundancy. There was one point between him and his younger colleague who was retained. The crucial difference between them was the lower score N received for the ‘knowledge’ criterion. N had been marked down by one point because he did not have a construction degree or qualification, although neither the criterion nor the guidance suggested qualifications would be a factor. N claimed that he had suffered indirect age discrimination because he had scored lower for not having a degree and pointed to failures in the redundancy consultation process.
The employment tribunal held:
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