An age discrimination claim was rightly struck out for having no reasonable prospects of success.
Facts
Mr Garcia was unsuccessful in his application for a job as a Spanish-speaking Customer Service Representative with British Airways in 2018. He claimed that he was rejected because of his age as during his application he was asked to show proof of ID with his date of birth on it. At the time he was 54. British Airways argued that it was standard practice to ask candidates who passed an online assessment to give four pieces of ID when they attended for interview, to confirm their identity, their right to work in the UK and their national insurance number. They said that the reason Mr Garcia was unsuccessful was because his score was not high enough on the assessments.
The Employment Tribunal (ET) struck out the claim for age discrimination at a preliminary stage for having no reasonable prospects of success. The documentary evidence showed that 29 people had been appointed to the role Mr Garcia applied for, including five who were over 50. One person over 50 was appointed on the same day as Mr Garcia was assessed. The assessment records also showed that he had received low marks in his interview and in role plays.
Mr Garcia appealed against the ET’s decision to strike out his claim.
Decision
The Employment Appeal Tribunal agreed with the ET that this was one of the rare cases where a discrimination claim could be struck out for having no reasonable prospects of success. His claim was based on an insecure foundation because the only evidence he relied on to infer age discrimination was the fact that he, along with every other candidate, was asked to show his passport on the assessment day. The “possibility” of age discrimination suggested by Mr Garcia was greatly outweighed by the plausible reason why British Airways said it asked for a passport and the detailed contemporaneous scoring records of why Mr Garcia failed the tests.
The judgment is available here.
Garcia v British Airways Plc [2022] EAT 14, 25 January 2022