In HM Land Registry v McClure, M was on a career break (from which she could return at any time on short notice) and was indirectly discriminated against when her employer, who needed to reduce headcount and costs, offered generous early retirement schemes to all its staff, but then decided without any notice to eliminate from consideration those on a career break who were not due to return before a set date, and then compounded this by telling M she was still to be considered for the scheme when she was not, and by wrongly rejecting her grievance. The EAT held that the tribunal was entitled to award M a compensatory award of £71,710.95 corresponding to the full payment she would have received if accepted for the scheme, since the evidence was that she would have been successful in her application if she had not been excluded from consideration by the discriminatory act.
Comment: This case serves as a £71,000 reminder to check that the rules for determining who can and cannot apply for voluntary severance schemes are not discriminatory, particularly as M was also awarded £12,000 for injury to feelings. Here, the provision of excluding those on a career break was found to disadvantage women as a group in particular, as it was far more likely that women would be on such a break than men and the employer could provide no justification. Service criteria could be another provision to be wary of in terms of sex and age discrimination. Employers should always consider subjecting the scheme rules to a legal compliance health check.
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