Employment Legal Update February 2020

Solicitor wins age discrimination case after he was denied job for being "expensive"

In Levy v McHale Legal an Employment Tribunal (ET) ruled that Mr Levy was discriminated against by reason of his age after he was denied a job at McHale because he was "expensive".

The ET agreed with Mr Levy that McHale's decision not to offer him the position was "synonymous with his being an experienced and [therefore] older solicitor". After deeming Mr Levy unsuitable, McHale's initial intention to recruit a 3- 5 PQE solicitor was replaced by a decision to cover the work with junior members of staff. The ET noted that Mr Levy met all the required qualifications for the role and, had the application gone further, he would have likely been offered the job. McHale made no effort to negotiate pay with Mr Levy, despite him being the only interviewee.

The ET mitigated Mr Levy's compensation award on the basis that, had he been appointed, a likely "clash of personalities" would have meant that McHale would have terminated Mr Levy's contract within a month. In addition, the ET noted that McHale had ceased to carry out work in Mr Levy's area of law in the months following the interview. In total, Mr Levy was awarded £13,188 for loss of earnings, injury to feelings and aggravated damages.

Disability must have 'long-term effect' at the time the alleged discriminatory acts take place

In Tesco Stores Ltd v Tennant, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that in order to bring a successful disability discrimination claim, the claimant must show that their condition had a 'long-term' effect at the time the alleged acts of discrimination took place.

Ms Tennant was employed by Tesco as a check out manager. She was absent from work as a result of depression from September 2016. In September 2017 Ms Tennant brought a claim for disability discrimination in relation to discriminatory acts she allegedly suffered between September 2016 and September 2017.

In order to demonstrate that she met the definition of "disability" under the Equality Act 2010 (the "Act"), Ms Tennant had to show that her impairment was long-term. Ms Tennant argued that her depression had lasted for more than 12 months, which is one of the statutory indicators of a disability being deemed 'long-term' under the Act. An ET agreed that Ms Tennant's depression was an impairment that was long-term as it had had a substantial effect on her from September 2016. Tesco appealed on the basis that Ms Tennant was...