A wife has lost her claim for age discrimination after being dismissed from her husband’s company upon the breakdown of their marriage. The Claimant claimed that her husband left her for a younger woman and then made her redundant unfairly.
The Employment Tribunal found however that it was in fact the Claimant who left the marriage and that the husband’s new partner was in fact older than the wife. Her claim for age discrimination therefore failed. However it was held that the dismissal was unfair and wrongful entitling her to 5 weeks notice pay plus further compensation to be assessed at a later stage.
This case throws up various aspects such as the need to undertake thorough due diligence on your claim so that you don’t accuse a Respondent of age discrimination for your being older when in fact you are younger than the other individual. More relevant to most however is what happens to employment when a couple divorce and they both work within the family business? Who should stay and who should leave and what should that person receive by way of compensation for losing their job? What damage does this cause to this business in the meantime? These are critical questions and in the heat and turmoil of a divorce it can be critical to get these issues resolved as amicably and swiftly as possible.
If you are in this situation our teams of employment and family lawyers can work with you to help reach a fair conclusion that works for all parties. Please contact our teams on 0345 646 0406 or fill in our online enquiry form and a member of our Team will be in touch.