An Employment Tribunal has awarded £25,000 to a plumber after colleagues and management dubbed him “Half-dead Dave” because of his age.
The employee lost his job at the age of 69 following a redundancy process which was deemed to be unfair and discriminatory. The individual had for some time been referred to by other staff as “Half-dead Dave” because of his age as he was significantly older than the majority of staff. In the subsequent redundancy process he was scored unfairly low in the selection process and it was held that this was due to his age.
The Employment Judge found that the employee had been discriminated against because of his age “plain and simple”. It was found that although the employee had suffered the nickname without complaint, it was clear that he was distressed and embarrassed by the nickname and only tolerated this behaviour for fear of losing his job.
The employer sought to argue that this was a case simply of workplace banter and denied that the behaviour was discriminatory.
The Tribunal awarded the employee a total of £25,000 including £7,000 specifically for the name-calling.
Under the Equality Act unlawful discrimination includes any conduct due to age (or other protected characteristic) which has the purpose or effect of violating an individual’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that individual. Importantly it is not just the intention behind the behaviour, but it’s effect on the individual.
What might be intended as harmless banter will still give rise to a potential discrimination claim where it’s effect is more sinister. It can at times be a difficult balancing act for employers who do not want to stamp all the fun and jokes out of a workplace but need to be mindful of the effect that behaviour might have towards other individuals.
If you have any questions about this article or your workplace more generally please contact our Employment Team on 0345 646 0406 or fill in our online enquiry form and a member of our Team will be in touch.