Employment Tribunal awards claimant £200,000 in age discrimination claim (L Roberts v Logo Design Grp Ltd: 2404024/2017)

In the case of L Roberts v Logo Design Grp Ltd: 2404024/2017, the Employment Tribunal held that the Claimant had been dismissed from his job because of is age, awarding him a sum in excess of £200,000 in compensation.

The facts in L Roberts v Logo Design Grp Ltd

Mr Roberts worked for 30 years at Logo Design Grp Ltd (“Logo”), a logo design business, as a senior designer.

On 9 May 2017 Mr Roberts was dismissed from his employment by the managing director of Logo; he was told that he was being made redundant and was dismissed immediately. Logo subsequently advertised for someone to do the job that Mr Roberts had been doing.

Mr Roberts subsequently pursued an Employment Tribunal claim for direct age discrimination and unfair dismissal, and Logo did not defend the claim. On 24 May 2018 default judgment was given to Mr Roberts.

The decision of the Employment Tribunal (ET)

In this remedy judgment the Employment Tribunal determined what compensation Mr Roberts should be awarded.

The Employment Tribunal awarded Mr Roberts the sum of £212,826.92 as compensation, comprised of the following:

• Notice pay: £2,836.55
• Basic award: £18,136.07
• Injury to feelings: £15,000
• Past loss of earnings: £15,249.52
• Failure to follow ACAS code: £4,534.02
• Future loss of earnings: £157,070.76

With regards to future loss of earnings, the Employment Tribunal held that Mr Roberts, who was 57 as of the date of the judgment, would likely not obtain a position until the date he retired (at the age of 67) which paid him a salary equal to or greater than the salary he was paid at Logo.

The Tribunal also held that the appropriate award for injury to feelings was £15,000, as the Employment Tribunal held that the case felt into the middle Vento bracket – Mr Roberts was aggrieved by the loss of his job and his depression had been exacerbated his career being cut short by Logo.

Our solicitors’ views on the case of L Roberts v Logo Design Grp Ltd

Chris Hadrill, the partner in the employment department at Redmans, made the following comment on the case: “This case is a bit of an outlier in terms of compensation awarded, and one of the reasons for this is the fact that the case was not contested by the respondent – however, employers should be aware that the value of compensation in successful discrimination claims is potentially unlimited.”

The decision of the Employment Tribunal in L Roberts v Logo Design Grp Ltd: 2404024/2017 can be found here.