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Age discrimination – long serving teacher

Long serving teacher constructively dismissed but not discriminated against on the grounds of age In the case ofBethnal Green and Shoreditch Educational Trust v Dippenaar, EAT (0064/15), a teacher who was managed at her job was able to establish that she was constructively and unfairly dismissed. The teacher in question was given poor assessments after lesson observations which were completely inconsistent with previous results. She argued that she was being pushed out because she was at the top of the salary scale and therefore more expensive than a new recruit. The Employment Tribunal agreed that the teacher had in effect been pushed out and therefore being constructively dismissed. The claim for unfair dismissal was upheld. In addition the treatment constituted indirect age discrimination. In the Employment Appeal Tribunal the unfair dismissal finding was upheld but not the discrimination finding. The teacher was unsuccessful in her indirect age discrimination claim because she could not show a group disadvantage which is essential for an indirect discrimination claim. She was disadvantaged personally but could not show group disadvantage. It should be noted that the compensation awarded was very high in this case, coming to £108,107.83. As a result of the age discrimination claim being overturned this was reduced to reflect the statutory maximum for the compensatory award which at that time just under £75,000.