Some Significant Age Discrimination Cases Reported in 2023

Here are some of the most significant age discrimination cases reported in the UK in 2023:

1. Eileen Jolly vs. Reading’s Royal Berkshire Hospital¹: An 89-year-old NHS secretary, Eileen Jolly, became the oldest person in the UK to win an age discrimination claim. Her superiors at Reading’s Royal Berkshire Hospital fired her, claiming that she was stuck in her “old secretarial ways” and that she had demonstrated a “catastrophic failure in performance”. However, the employment tribunal found that “there was evidence of the claimant’s training having been inadequate, incomplete and the ‘on the job’ training was ad hoc and not directed”. While Eileen never got her job back, she did end up £200,000 richer¹.
2. Ms K Hargreaves v I Ambrose and others: 2407961/2022²: This case involved age discrimination among other issues. The decision was made on 5 September 2023 and published on 5 October 2023².
3. Cook v Gentoo Group Ltd EAT/12/2023³: This case was reported on XpertHR.co.uk³.
4. Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and another v Matar EAT/1/2023³: This case was also reported on XpertHR.co.uk³.
5. Gregory v Petro Trace Ltd¹: The Employment Tribunal found that age was a motivating factor in an employee’s dismissal despite attempts to cast it as performance-related or redundancy¹.
6. Palladino v Reed in Partnership¹: It wasn’t age discrimination when younger colleagues said they wanted to go “clubbing” for a work Christmas party¹.
7. Pipe v Coventry University¹: An employer’s progression policy could have disadvantaged older workers by asking for a PHD or equivalency, but it was justified. The age discrimination claim in this case would have failed anyway because there were no available promotion opportunities¹.
8. Cook v Gentoo Group Ltd¹: An Employment Tribunal must reconsider its decision that a rushed redundancy process was not direct age discrimination¹.
9. Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust v Matar¹: A finding of direct age discrimination was upheld because an NHS Trust had made age-related assumptions about a locum consultant’s willingness to apply for a specialist register based on his retirement plans¹.
10. Dadhania v SAP (UK) Ltd¹: A 61-year-old account manager was unfairly constructively dismissed after being put on a performance improvement plan without warning, but the majority of the Tribunal concluded there was no age discrimination¹.