Victory for 'age discrimination' worker in landmark case

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Ann Southcott was dismissed from her job as a clerical worker in Treliske Hospital, Truro, Cornwall, on September 30, the day before the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations were introduced.

She was told she would receive 11 weeks' pay rather than the 11 months' pay she would have been entitled to if she had been dismissed a day later.

Unison took up the case and planned to fight for her reinstatement at an employment tribunal. The union announced today that the Trust had agreed to give Mrs Southcott her job back along with back pay from last October.

General secretary Dave Prentis said: "This is a fair and just outcome to a sorry chapter in the hospital's history. There is no doubt that the decision to dismiss Ann Southcott was fuelled by the debt crisis at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust.

"A new policy on age discrimination has been agreed with the Trust and Ann is now able to return to the hospital to a job she clearly did well and enjoyed.

"I hope this decision will give new heart to other people who have lost their jobs because of their age."

Mother-of-one Mrs Southcott, who was 66 when she was sacked, said: "I'm delighted with this result as I was clearly discriminated against on the grounds of my age, which was grossly unfair.

"I cannot afford to give up work at this time, and why should I when I was doing a job I loved? I am looking forward to the challenge of my new job back in the therapies department.

"The Trust publicly announced that it was dismissing employees like me to avoid the implications of the age regulations.

"I simply received my 11 weeks' contractual notice pay, issued with absolute precision, to expire on the last working day of September 2006. If I had been dismissed on or after 1st October 2006, I would have received 11 months' pay."