Age Discrimination - Employee 'too young' for the job

In Thomas v Eight Members Club and Killip, ET/2202603/2007, an Employment Tribunal made the first award of compensation to an employee who was dismissed for being too young for her job.

Megan Thomas, who was 19 years old, was employed as a membership secretary at the Eight Member Club (the Club) in April 2007. After four months in the position, the Club dismissed her. She was told that she was too young and that if they had met her a few years later than there may not have been a problem.

A spokesperson for the Club stated that they were happy to employ young people and that many of the waiters and waitresses who were employed there were younger than Ms Thomas. They stated that the reason for Ms Thomas' termination was that she had made a number of mistakes during her probation.

The Tribunal found that the Club had discriminated against Ms Thomas and awarded her a four-figure sum in compensation. This was only for injury to feelings and unpaid notice as she had been able to mitigate her loses by finding a better paid job in the City four days after being dismissed.

The case is the first time the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 (the Regulations) have been used to protect a worker from discrimination for being too young. The Regulations make it unlawful to discriminate against workers under 65 on the grounds of age, but until this point they had only been used in cases where an employer was deemed too old for the position. Employers should be mindful when recruiting employees that they are mature enough to handle the tasks required of them and that if they do decide to dismiss an employee they do not use the employees age, whether they are deemed too old or too young, as the reason for the dismissal.