There was no unlawful indirect age discrimination in a housing association requiring a support worker under the age of 35 to work out his notice period.
Facts
Mr Kelly worked for St Mungo’s as a support worker from January 2015 until he was made redundant in January 2018. Although his last day of employment was 22 January 2018, he misunderstood the date his employment would end and believed it would terminate at the end of November 2017.
Mr Kelly was concerned he would not have any income after this date to pay his rent (£500, of which £300 was being met by the local housing allowance), so moved out of his flat at the end of November. Subsequently, he was told that he would have to keep working until the end of his notice period on 22 January, which meant that he had to find a place to live in Bristol at short notice.
Mr Kelly, who was aged under 35 at the relevant time, brought a claim for indirect age discrimination. He argued that by requiring him to work out his notice period his employer had applied a provision, criterion or practice which put him at a disadvantage because he was not able to claim local housing allowance to assist with paying rent during January 2018.
Decision
The Employment Tribunal (“ET”) found that St Mungo’s did not discriminate against Mr Kelly by making him work his notice period. Requiring people to work out their notice period was their general policy, which applied to people both under and over 35. Everyone, regardless of age, would be in the same position with regard to receipt of local housing allowance in these circumstances.
The ET also found that Mr Kelly continued to receive income up until his last day of employment, so he was not in any event subjected to any disadvantage. Finally, the ET concluded that even if any indirect discrimination had been found on the facts, it would be a proportionate means of achieving the legitimate aim of utilising an employee’s services during his notice period.
Mr Kelly’s claim for indirect age discrimination was therefore dismissed.
The judgment is available here
Mr C Kelly v St Mungo Community Housing Association 1401197/2018