EAT Redundancy : Definition – An Employment Tribunal held that the Claimant had been unfairly dismissed, and less favourably treated, because of her age. She had occupied a senior post. The department in which she worked was restructured. The ET held that the loss of the Claimant’s post and her dismissal in consequence was not by reason of redundancy, but a dismissal for some other substantial reason, and it was entitled to do so. It found that it was an act of age discrimination not to appoint her to one of the new posts in the restructured organisation, and held her unfairly dismissed. On appeal, it was held that the ET was entitled to conclude that the dismissal was for SOSR, but since it had accepted that the appointment to the available post depended on interview, and that the person (a man) appointed to it had performed better than the Claimant, and for that reason had apparently rejected a claim of discrimination on the grounds of sex, there was no adequate basis on the facts which the ET had found for concluding that there had been age discrimination. The assessment of the fairness of the dismissal was flawed, but that issue would be remitted to an ET for determination.
Langstaff J P
[2014] UKEAT 0403 – 13 – 1403
Bailii
England and Wales
Employment
Updated: 03 December 2021; Ref: scu.526082
