A senior executive at a FTSE 250 firm who was told by his younger boss he was an “old fossil” who “did not know how to manage millennials” has won a £3.1 million age discrimination payout.
The sum due to Vesuvius manager Glenn Cowie is one of the largest awards ever made by an employment tribunal.
The £300,000-a-year manager was sacked and replaced with a younger woman by Vesuvius’s French chief executive, Patrick Andre, after a policy of bringing in new hires no older than 45.
US citizen Mr Cowie was 58 when he was told he would be dismissed from his role with the London-listed global engineering company after almost 40 years with the business.
Mr Andre called him an “old fossil” in the middle of a meeting with other senior managers, the London Central employment tribunal heard.
“These millennials will never stop until they have my job and you guys had better get used to it,” Mr Andre added to Mr Cowie, saying the latter “did not know how to deal with millennials”.
‘Deep prejudice against older employees’
Mr Cowie, who accused Vesuvius of having an “institutional and deep prejudice against older employees”, won his claims of age discrimination, victimisation and unfair dismissal.
He will now receive a total of £3,171,723 in compensation for loss of earnings, four years after he launched legal action against his former employers.
It comes after the tribunal awarded him an initial £35,000 last year, including £20,000 for injury to feelings.
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The hearing was told that in September 2017 Mr Andre was appointed chief executive of Vesuvius, having previously been Mr Cowie’s immediate peer.
The manager’s salary was raised to more than £300,000 in December that year, although his “overall remuneration package was significantly more valuable”.
Mr Cowie began working for Vesuvius - which makes products for the car industry, steelmakers and foundries - while living in South Africa in 1981.
In 2014 he was promoted to global business unit president of Foundry Industries, also known as Foseco International, one of the £1.24 billion FTSE-listed company’s four divisions.
Disagreement over charging higher prices
Yet trouble started in 2018 as Mr Andre pushed the company to maintain stagnating profit levels by charging higher prices, a move Mr Cowie disagreed with.
The chief executive told Vesuvius’s board that Mr Cowie had six months to raise profits in his division or he would be dismissed - but the manager himself was not told this, the tribunal found.
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Mr Cowie was dismissed in a face-to-face meeting with the chief executive at 8pm on August 1 2019, an experience he described as “painful” - and was replaced by a 51-year-old woman.
Following his dismissal, he filed a grievance in October 2019 complaining of age discrimination - and then sued the following year after it was rejected.
In that grievance Mr Cowie said: “Patrick has brazenly embarked on an unlawful campaign of getting rid of older employees and replacing them with under 45 year old staff as per emails and direct instructions to recruiting companies not to employ staff over aged 45.
“These blatant written instructions are on the record and show an institutional and deep prejudice against older employees. These comments are a direct smoking gun.”
The tribunal made no finding on the alleged age policy, saying it was “not clear” how it affected Mr Cowie given his replacement by a 51-year-old woman.
‘Intimidating and hostile environment’
Awarding millions in compensation to Mr Cowie, Employment Judge Adkin said: “First, Mr Andre commented negatively on [his] age and second, he commented negatively on Mr Cowie’s inability to manage younger employees.
“It was unwanted conduct. We find it created an intimidating and hostile environment for [Mr Cowie]... this was directed at [him] personally.”
Giving evidence about the impact of his ordeal, Mr Cowie said: “It is hard to describe fully the mental anguish that I suffered as a result of the company’s treatment.
“It was severe and lasting. I had devoted 37 years of my life to the company.”
A Vesuvius spokesman said the company was “disappointed” by the tribunal ruling.
“Vesuvius has always denied that Mr Cowie was unlawfully dismissed and there is an ongoing appeal. Since Mr Cowie’s departure, Vesuvius’s Foundry Division strategy has been completely refocused and is well-positioned for future growth.”