A senior executive at a FTSE 250 engineering firm has been awarded £3.2 million after winning his direct age discrimination claim.
The London Central employment tribunal heard how Glenn Cowie had received a 45-minute lecture describing how he was an “old fossil” and he “didn’t know how to deal with millennials”.
Cowie, an engineering manager on a salary of £300,000 per year, was dismissed and replaced by a younger female manager, after his employer Vesuvius, which develops technology for molten metal processes, implemented a policy encouraging managers not to hire people over the age of 45.
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He was 58 when he was told he would be dismissed from his role at the global engineering company where he had worked for almost four decades.
In 2014, Vesuvius promoted Cowie to global business unit president of foundry industries, one of the company’s four divisions.
The tribunal heard that in September 2017, Cowie’s colleague Patrick Andre was appointed chief executive.
The following year, Andre emailed Cowie to say that new recruits should be no older than 45, so the firm would only hire people “with enough time left in their career in order to develop”.
The original judgment, published in 2022, found that the explicit focus on an age “so far aware from a more typical retirement age” was unusual and “potentially suggestive of a mindset where assumptions were made about people and their abilities because of their age”.
The tribunal heard that Cowie’s replacement was aged 51, which Vesuvius argued was a demonstration that the under-45 policy was a suggestion rather than a rule.
But employment judge Adkin said it was “something very close to a rule” for the company’s management.
The tribunal ruled that Cowie was unfairly dismissed by Vesuvius and suffered age discrimination from both Vesuvius and Andre. It ruled Cowie suffered victimisation by raising grievances and appeals following his dismissal.
In one of the largest employment tribunal awards in recent times, Cowie’s award comprised £1.38 million for net financial losses, £20,000 for injury to feelings, and an Acas uplift of £1,900. There was also an award for losses associated with Cowie’s relocation and sale of his home.
After grossing up for UK and US taxes, the total award was £3,171,723.
A Vesuvius spokesperson said: “We are disappointed by the outcome of this case, which relates to events in 2019. Vesuvius has always denied that Mr Cowie was unlawfully dismissed and there is an ongoing appeal. Since Mr Cowie’s departure, Vesuvius’s Foundry Division strategy has been completely refocused and is well-positioned for future growth.”
Earlier this year, a former council employee, dismissed after taking sick leave for post-traumatic stress disorder following the Grenfell Tower fire, was awarded a potentially record-breaking £4.6 million in compensation for disability discrimination and harassment.
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