Age discrimination claims over pension changes hit City Law firm Freshfields

City law firm Freshfields has been hit by two age discrimination claims from former partners.

The company is currently fighting an employment tribunal claim brough by Peter Bloxham, its former head of insolvency. The judgment on the claim has been reserved indefinitely.

Bloxham accused Freshfields of age discrimination on the ground that changes to its pension scheme affected partners differently according to their age.

Now Lois Moore, a mergers and acquisitions partner who left the company late last year, has filed a similar claim.

It is understood that it covers much of the same ground as the Bloxham case and it has been deferred by a tribunal pending the outcome of the existing case.

Freshfields said: “In responding to the Bloxham claim, we are showing that the pension reforms were all about fairness and, as the law allows, a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.”