A Tribunal found that a half-hearted age discrimination claim brought alongside another claim to “raise the ante” did not amount to age discrimination.
Facts
Mr Coyte started his employment with Siemens Financial Services UK Ltd in 2011 as a Sales Efficiency Manager. On 5 September 2017 he started a new role as Head of International Vendor Accounts due to a company restructure. On 17 December 2017 Mr Coyte took a grievance to the CEO and subsequently there was a meeting on 22 January 2018 where Mr Coyte expressed that he wished to resign. On 29 January 2018 a follow up meeting was scheduled to establish exactly what Mr Coyte’s grievances were. Mr Coyte claimed constructive dismissal for having been given no formal objectives, no job title, no job description, among other reasons. On 31 January Mr Coyte wrote his resignation letter. This letter was the first grievance put in writing.
A grievance meeting took place on 12 February 2018 and on 15 March 2018 the outcome was given that the grievance was not upheld. Mr Coyte appealed this outcome on 22 March 2018 and the appeal was heard on 3 April 2018. It was during this appeal that Mr Coyte brought up his concerns regarding age discrimination. Despite this additional factor on 11 May 2018 the outcome was given, and the conclusion remained the same.
Mr Coyte presented a claim to the Tribunal on 20 May 2018 with the complaints of unfair constructive dismissal and age discrimination.
Decision
The Tribunal rejected both claims.
the Tribunal found there was no constructive dismissal. The Tribunal also found the age discrimination claim was, in its words, “half-hearted” and Mr Coyte himself accepted that he brought the age discrimination complaint only to “raise the ante” in his claim. The Tribunal found there to be no evidence of age discrimination.
The age discrimination allegations included a general allegation that the CEO did not follow the correct company promotion and appointment procedures. A second allegation was about a presentation Mr Swadlo gave about old ways no longer being relevant. Mr Coyte claimed it was said afterwards that it was a direct reference about him, Mr Coyte was aged 62 at the time. The Tribunal reviewed the slides used for the presentation which showed nothing to do with age and held that the presentation did not amount to age discrimination.
Mr Coyte also claimed that his younger female colleague received favourable treatment regarding promotions within the company. Mr Coyte did not apply one of the positions complained of and the Tribunal found no evidence that there was age discrimination involved. In addition, these events took place more than 3 months before Mr Coyte brought the claim and therefore under section 123 of Equality Act the claim was out of time.
The last allegation concerned the CEO’s announcement that Mr Coyte was the oldest in the company, when he announced his 60th birthday during a meeting. The Tribunal found that it was just an announcement of a milestone birthday and could not without more amount to age discrimination. This event also took place in 2015 so the claim was also out of time.
The Judgment is available here.
Mr R Coyte v Siemens Financial Services UK Ltd, Case No. 3307332/2018, 23 March 2020