Facts

Mrs Dooley started her employment with Woolston Manor Golf & Country Club on 10 April 2007. She was 47 at the time. Mrs Dooley’s role was described as Senior Events/Sales Co-ordinator and she was promoted to Sales Manager in January 2017.

Mr Williams started working at the golf club in January 2017 as an Associate Director and immediately started made comments about Mrs Dooley’s age, such “Computers are for young people – not you”. Mr Williams told Mrs Dooley in front of clients that she was too old for the job and that the clients should not listen to her. Mrs Dooley was excluded from team training meetings because she was “too old to learn new things”.

By August 2017 Mrs Dooley and another colleague made a joint complaint to one of the company directors about Mr Williams. A staff meeting was held by one of the company directors around August/September 2017 in response to the complaint.

On 8 January 2018, Mr Williams told Mrs Dooley that he considered her role to be redundant and said that he could get someone younger to work full time for less pay. On 14 January 2018, Mr Williams terminated Mrs Dooley’s employment with immediate effect, after she refused a different position offered to her. She was dismissed without any notice pay and she was not paid her accrued holiday pay. Mrs Dooley’s duties were then assumed by a younger employee in her early thirties.

Mrs Dooley brought allegations of direct discrimination, age-related harassment and victimisation against both Mr Williams and Woolston Manor. She also brought claims relating to her religious belief.

Decision

The Tribunal held that Mr Williams regularly made comments in relation to Mrs Dooley’s age and religious belief, which were unwanted and had the effect of violating her dignity and created an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating and offensive environment. Accordingly, it upheld her harassment claims.

The Tribunal also held that her dismissal was at least in part due to her age and her religious belief, and was therefore an act of direct discrimination.

The Tribunal held that the victimisation claim failed. Mrs Dooley had been harassed by Mr Williams on the grounds of her religion and her age before she made her complaint. Despite the harassment continuing after Mrs Dooley made the complaint, there is no clear evidence that the pattern of harassment changed. Mr Williams was not sanctioned following the complaint and the Tribunal found that the complaint was overlooked after the meeting held in August/September 2017. Mrs Dooley’s dismissal occurred around 5 months after she made her complaint, however there was evidence from November 2017 outlining Mr Williams’ intention to dismiss Mrs Dooley and there was reference to her performance rather than the complaint she had made. Consequently Mrs Dooley’s victimisation claim failed.

The Tribunal ordered Mr Williams (and not the employers) to pay a total of £50,902.03 compensation to Mrs Dooley.

The judgment is available here.

Dooley v Williams; WM Functions Limited; Woolston Manor Golf Club Limited, Case Number 3200819/2018, 31 December 2019