Mr R approached us for advice the day following the introduction of the Age Discrimination Regulations (now superseded by the Equality Act). His employer had read in the press that it was lawful to dismiss employees over the age of 65 and on discovering that Mr R was 67 they considered it reasonable to dismiss him without any warning. We entered into lengthy negotiations with the employer and successfully persuaded the organisation to re-employ Mr R along with reassurances about future treatment. Reinstatement in these circumstances is exceptionally rare but Mr R has enjoyed a further three years of untroubled employment.
Mrs C approached us for advice following a car accident which left her disabled. Her employers had failed to carry out a health and safety risk assessment or to find out what duties she could or could not do. In addition, the employer had failed to tackle inappropriate and hurtful comments made by her colleagues which had exacerbated the situation. Following a detailed letter of grievance from us, the employer sought appropriate medical advice as to what reasonable adjustments could be made to the working environment and made a commitment to staff training on equality and diversity issues. The employee is now being supported in her recovery and hopes to be working on a full-time basis within the next six months.
Miss J came to us after her two male managers had made offensive remarks about her abilities and had undermined her to external clients. In addition they had made general sexist remarks about women in the workplace. We submitted a lengthy pre-action letter quoting the managers verbatim and enclosing a statutory questionnaire. After an initial "we deny everything” the former employer paid a significant out of court settlement equivalent to a year and a half's salary.