Lidl worker wins age discrimination case over redundancy scoring

An employment tribunal has ruled that Lidl unfairly dismissed a senior construction consultant and discriminated against him because of his age after marking him down in a redundancy process for not having a degree.

Joanne Stronach Director and Head of Employment reports on this recent case.

Mr Wayne Norman, who was over 60 at the time of his dismissal in 2023, was one of three senior construction consultants competing for a single remaining role following a company restructure. The tribunal heard that Mr Norman was scored lower than a younger colleague and lost his job as a result.

The case centred on Lidl’s use of a degree or construction qualification as part of its redundancy selection criteria. The tribunal found that this disadvantaged older workers, who are statistically less likely to hold degrees because fewer people in their generation went into higher education.

The panel said this was “unsurprising” and something worthy of “judicial notice”. Lidl accepted this point and did not challenge the evidence but failed to justify the use of degree-based criteria or show that it was necessary for the role.

Mr Norman argued that the scoring system was unfair and failed to reflect his experience. The tribunal heard that he had worked on around 77 construction projects during his time with Lidl and had trained the colleague who kept the job. Despite this, he was marked down under the “knowledge” criterion for not holding a formal qualification.

Lidl claimed the use of qualifications was a way to assess competence, but the tribunal found that the scoring was inconsistent and lacked proper explanation. It concluded that the process amounted to indirect age discrimination and unfair dismissal.

Mr Norman also alleged age-related harassment, including being called “grandad” by a colleague and teased about the size of the font on his phone. These complaints were rejected, with the tribunal noting they were not intended to create a hostile environment and that Mr Norman himself had once referred to himself as “the old dude” in a workplace message.

The tribunal dismissed the harassment and direct discrimination claims but upheld his complaints of unfair dismissal and indirect age discrimination.

Lidl was ordered to pay Mr Norman £50,926 in compensation.

If you would like more information about the issues raised in this article or any aspect of employment law please contact Joanne on 01228 516666 or click here to send her an email.