A 63-year-old Lidl employee has been awarded nearly £51,000 after a tribunal ruled he was unfairly dismissed in a redundancy process that discriminated against him for not having a degree.
Wayne Norman had worked for the supermarket chain for almost 23 years as a senior construction consultant in Doncaster, where he oversaw building and refurbishment of regional stores.
He was made redundant in March 2023 during a restructuring process.
The employment tribunal found that the selection criteria, which included having a degree or construction qualification, amounted to indirect age discrimination.
Lidl has announced a deal for the bank holiday PA Employment Judge Neil Maidment ruled that Lidl's "failure to conduct a reasonable process of consultation" rendered the dismissal unfair.
Norman was awarded £46,280.63 for unfair dismissal and a further £4,646.15 for injury of feelings due to indirect age discrimination.
He was one of three construction consultants considered for redundancy, with only one role available in the restructure.
After learning he had been unsuccessful, Norman was told by his line manager Liam Schofield that he had been "marked down for not having 'relevant construction qualifications' in that you do not have a construction degree".
MORE LIKE THIS:
The tribunal accepted Norman's argument that those in their 60s were "less likely" to have a degree than those in their 30s, with the other two consultants both being in their 30s.
Judge Maidment noted that Norman had felt "discredited" because he did not have a degree and "punished" for his background.
The tribunal found Schofield's evidence was not "wholly consistent" regarding the significance of qualifications during the redundancy process.
While Lidl had set up a "potentially fair" scoring method, the tribunal concluded it wasn't "fairly and reasonably" applied in Norman's case.
In his evidence to the tribunal, Norman described growing up on a North Wales council estate in the 1960s and 1970s "when there was no opportunity for someone like him to go to university".
Norman described growing up on a North Wales council estate in the 1960s and 1970s 'when there was no opportunity for someone like him to go to university'
PA
He told the tribunal he had always believed that "if you work hard enough, long enough and successfully enough you will be rewarded and respected".
The redundancy had severe psychological effects on Norman, with the judge noting he had suffered "clear psychological damage" requiring medication and counselling.
"The impact on his family life had been extreme and at one point he had had suicidal ideations," the judge added.
During his time at Lidl, Norman had enjoyed good relationships with colleagues, feeling they were "very much part of a family".
Had he not been dismissed, Norman "envisaged himself happily working on with the respondent until around his 67th birthday".
His claims of direct age discrimination and age-related harassment were unsuccessful.
