Woman who made £100,000 from claims for age bias

Margaret Keane applied for jobs as a chartered accountant at firms asking for "recently qualified" staff but when she did not get called for an interview, she launched age discrimination claims.

Twelve of the businesses she targeted made out-of-court payments of between £4,000 and £10,000 each, despite the fact that the 50-year-old's CV was littered with spelling mistakes and did not include her date of birth.

But five then decided to go to an employment tribunal which yesterday ruled that she was a "not a bona fide job applicant, but a serial litigator" purely seeking compensation. The firms are each demanding she pays them more than £10,000 in costs.

Despite the setback, Miss Keane is taking a further 10 companies to court.

Barrister Peter Linstead, representing some of the firms, said Miss Keane from Harrow, was taking advantage of European age discrimination laws introduced in 2006. Many employers challenged with discrimination cases of this nature fear huge legal costs and cave in.

He told the tribunal: "The evidence suggests she made these applications with the sole intention of bringing a claim, not doing the job."

Miss Keane, who qualified as a chartered accountant in 1991 and once had a £75,000-a-year job with HSBC, did not clarify why she had applied for positions aimed at people with little or no experience. But she claimed she had not been considered for the roles she applied for simply because of her age.

"All these agencies use words in their advertisements like 'newly qualified', 'entry level role' and 'high-calibre candidate', I believe to attract younger and exclude older candidates," she added. Her campaign began on 4 May last year when she applied by email for posts, offering up to £60,000-a-year salaries, advertised through 10 recruitment agencies.

She waited two weeks before telephoning the agencies and demanding to know why she had not got the job. She then began actions for damages through the Watford Employment Tribunal. Days after the first wave, she applied for jobs through another 11 employment agencies, again swiftly making follow up calls and launching more claims for age discrimination, this time through the London Central tribunal.