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£1m for official sacked before he was 50 'to save his pension'
Felix Allen11 Sep 2009
A council manager is set to win £1 million compensation in the largest payout for age discrimination in the UK after winning the final leg of a legal battle to prove he was wrongly made redundant by Tower Hamlets.
John Wooster, 52, was laid off seven months before his 50th birthday, meaning he had to wait until he was 65 to claim his pension.
Had he been in his job until after his 50th birthday, Mr Wooster could have claimed the pension almost immediately.
Tower Hamlets hoped to have a 15- year grace period before they had to pay his pension with one manager boasting: "If he goes now, we do save the pension."
An employment tribunal found the council had unfairly dismissed Mr Wooster, who had worked for Tower Hamlets for 33 years, and discriminated against him because of his age.
An appeal against the age discrimination ruling failed yesterday.
Mr Wooster was dismissed from his job as a senior consultation officer in the housing department in December 2006.
A hearing to decide Mr Wooster's total compensation figure is due to take place later this year.
Reader views (5)
Was this not another of Thatchers time Bombs.. I seem to remember that council pensions were converted from an invested scheme to a pay as you go scheme... Public sector workers did have lower salaries in exchange for a secure job and a pension. i was a skilled worker, I could have earned a third to twice as much working in private industry.
- Light Shaft, EARNLEY UK, 11/09/2009 15:47
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Again us the taxpayers are going to pick up the tab for this. C. Nichol one of the reasons that ageism is rife(if it is) is that public sector pensions are so generous as to be unaffordable and now that the good times are over and money is tight, we are all going to look at costs very varefuly - and that includes the public sector
- Jeremy H., Home Counties, 11/09/2009 13:42
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I used to work for Tower Hamlets council. Ageism was rife there, and employees aged over 50 were a rarity. Early retirement was the way that such undesirables were disposed of, either through compulsion dressed up as re-organisation or as an incentive to those who either wanted to sit back and do nothing for the rest of their lives or to take up lucrative careers as consultants. As Threaded says, that's our taxes at work. Hopefully Mr Wooster's pay off will act as a wake up call to halt such malpractice.
- C.Nichol, London, 11/09/2009 12:05
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And all we poor taxpayers ever hear is ' we must pay concil leaders top whack as they do as an important job as leaders of industry'. Problem is none of the public sector leaches are held to account when they foul up, and are sacked. Time for a true comparisson with the private sector. Starting with the fact that Councils or their leaders do not have to generate revenue to allow them to spend money, they just take it from us poor taxpayers. If they had to generate their own income, then their wonderful pensions would not be there, nor would their expense accounts or anything else for that matter.
- Alan, carlisle uk, 11/09/2009 11:47
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Penny wise, pound foolish: your taxes at work. I guess with this ruling the unprincipled manager will not face the same fate himself when approaching 50.
- Threaded, Roskilde, Denmark, 11/09/2009 09:48
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