An executive at a FTSE 250 company has been awarded more than £3 million after his boss called him an “old fossil who doesn’t know how to manage millennials”.
The damages award to Glenn Cowie, who was 58 when he was sacked and replaced by a younger woman, is thought to be one of the largest granted at a UK employment tribunal.
His dismissal after 37 years working for the global engineering company Vesuvius followed concern over a policy that discouraged recruiting staff older than 45, the tribunal was told.
Cowie sued the company alleging it had an “institutional and deep prejudice against older employees” — and after a four-year legal battle he has now been awarded more than £3.17 million in damages for age discrimination, victimisation and unfair dismissal.
The tribunal in London was told that Cowie started working for Vesuvius — which makes products for the car industry, steelmakers and foundries — while living in South Africa in 1981.
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Ten years ago he was promoted to the role of global business unit president of foundry industries, which was one of the company’s four divisions.
Three years after his promotion, Patrick André was appointed as the company’s chief executive, having previously been head of one of the other divisions on the same corporate level as Cowie.
At the time, Cowie was based in the US and his salary was increased to more than £300,000, with an overall package that was “significantly” higher.
At a meeting of company executives in Brazil in 2018, André was said to have noted that “these new millennials will never stop pushing until they have my job and you older guys have to get used to it”.
The tribunal was told that during the meeting, an issue was raised about the resignation of a manager in his 30s whom Cowie had hired on the recommendation of André, who is now 50.
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André was said to have told Cowie he was “an old fossil who doesn’t know how to manage millennials”. Cowie told the tribunal that remembered the comment clearly as “it was so out of the blue and inappropriate”.
The tribunal was also told that the chief executive emailed Cowie some time later to emphasise that any recruits to the company must be no older than 45.
However, in evidence to the tribunal, André said his comment about recruits was a “preference” and not a “rigid rule”, and he denied there was an “age ceiling” at the company.
By late summer in 2018, André told the board that Cowie was not performing well and that he had six months to improve — but the tribunal noted that the message was not communicated to the executive.
André ordered Cowie to return to the UK and an executive search agency was instructed to find a potential replacement for him.
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However, it was nearly a full year until André sacked Cowie, telling the long-serving executive: “It’s not working”. He was replaced by a woman aged 51.
Cowie told the tribunal that André had “brazenly embarked on an unlawful campaign of getting rid of older employees …”
He argued that the “old fossil” comment “tells you everything you need to know about his motivations and stereotypical opinions about older employees”.
In his ruling backing Cowie’s claim, the judge, Tim Adkin, noted that André had “commented negatively on [his] age” and on his alleged “inability to manage younger employees”.
That comment, the judge said, “created an intimidating and hostile environment” for Cowie as it had been directed at him specifically.
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The tribunal panel concluded that while the comment was discriminatory, it had happened too long ago to form part of Cowie’s legal claim. However, it ruled that the remark was “important background” for the rest of his age claims, which were upheld.
Vesuvius said the company was “disappointed by the outcome of this case” and had always denied that Cowie “was unlawfully dismissed.” There was an ongoing appeal, the company added.
