Claimant succeeds in age discrimination and victimisation claims and awarded over £340,000 after sham redundancy

The Claimant was a Leading Project Geophysicist for the Respondent geoscience company which served clients globally in oil and gas exploration. The Respondent initially informed the Claimant he was being made redundant but when the Claimant subsequently challenged this, the Respondent dismissed him for alleged poor performance.  

The tribunal rejected that there were any issues around the Claimant's performance. It found that the reason for dismissal was his age (he was 62). Also accepted was that the Claimant was subject to aggressive conduct from the Respondent's MD and that this amounted to victimisation.

Accordingly, the Claimant's claims for unfair dismissal, age discrimination, victimisation and breach of contract succeeded. The sum awarded, including £20,000 for injury to feelings, was uplifted by 25% as there was a total disregard to the ACAS Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures.

Mukhtiar, instructed by Susie Al-Qassab of Bellevue Law, acted for the Claimant.

The judgment can be found here: Gregory v PetroTrace Ltd.