A letter calling an employee a “jumped up, know it all, spoilt child” amounted to direct age discrimination.
Facts
Mr Rawnsley had resigned in response to being struck in the face by Mr Beall, Managing Director of his employer Queniborough Aluminium Services Ltd (the Respondent). The altercation happened when Mr Rawnsley asked for other staff to help him keep the stores area clean and Mr Beall did not agree. After 10 or 15 minutes Mr Beall lost his temper, struck Mr Rawnsley’s face, pushed him and told him to get out. As Mr Rawnsley left, he wrote on his clocking out card that he “no longer felt safe” at work. He later reported the assault to the police.
Subsequently, Mr Rawnsley was signed off with stress by his GP. Following this, Mr Beall sent a letter to him, on behalf of Queniborough Aluminium Services Ltd, which stated that Mr Rawnsley was a “jumped up, know it all, spoilt child” and ended with “So the QAS official position is as of today you have resigned, should this not be the case you would be dismissed for gross insubordination”
Decision
The Tribunal decided that Mr Rawnsley had resigned on the day of the altercation. It used the comment on his clocking out card, the fact he had reported his employer to the police and subsequent text messages with a colleague to infer that he had formed an intention not to return to work.
The claim for constructive unfair dismissal was upheld. The Tribunal was firmly of the view that Mr Beall’s behaviour amounted to a breach of the implied term of trust and confidence. It found that the Respondent was in fundamental breach of contract and Mr Rawnsley was entitled to resign and treat himself as having been dismissed. The Tribunal went on to conclude that the dismissal was unfair - there was no justification for Mr Beall assaulting Mr Rawnsley.
In relation to age discrimination, the Tribunal found that Mr Beall striking Mr Rawnsley in the face was not direct age discrimination. It concluded that he had struck Mr Rawnsley because he had lost his temper and that this was not connected to Mr Rawnsley’s young age. Notwithstanding this, it held that the comment “jumped up, know it all, spoilt child” in the letter sent by Mr Beall fell into the category of inherently discriminatory conduct and was direct age discrimination.
In total, Mr Rawnsley was awarded £7,949.96. This included more than £5,000 for unfair dismissal and £1,000 for injury to feelings. The Tribunal considered the comment about Mr Rawnsley being a spoilt child to be at the very lowest end of the Vento bandings. Mr Rawnsley was also entitled to recover notice pay and receive compensation for untaken holiday pay outstanding at the termination date.
The judgment is available here.
Rawnsley v Queniborough Aluminium Services Ltd, case number 2603656/2019, 29 April 2021