UK worker gets $86,000 after manager allegedly trashed "bald-headed 50-year-old men"

A 61-year-old worker in the U.K. has won $86,000 in damages after he said his manager made ageist comments, including that he didn't want a team of "bald-headed 50-year-old men." 

The United Kingdom's employment tribunal ruled earlier this month that Mark Jones was unfairly dismissed from his job as a salesperson at the U.K.'s Tango Networks because of his age, and awarded him damages of more than a year's pay. 

According to the ruling, Jones started work at Tango Networks UK in 2019, at the age of 59, and worked there for two years. During that time, Jones' manager, Philip Hesketh, repeatedly referred to his desired sales team as "high energy, energetic and youthful," according to the document.

In 2020, the company was hiring for a new sales role and interviewed a candidate whom Jones recommended. Afterwards, Hesketh allegedly asked Jones about the candidate's age, according to the ruling. When told the candidate was 57, Hesketh allegedly replied "Yes, he did look old," and said that "he wanted someone younger for the role" and "who was ideally female," according to the ruling.

Hesketh also allegedly said "I don't want a team of bald-headed 50-year-old men — I want to change the dynamics," according to the ruling.

The court document found that Tango Networks ultimately extended job offers to two candidates who were the youngest of the finalists interviewed, and Hesketh made clear his intention to replace Jones with one of the new hires. Jones found out about that plan via a publicly available calendar invite set for December 18, which read, in part: "I'd like to make an offer to each on the provision we move Mark on very early in Jan 2021." 

Performance improvement plan

After going on holiday and being out with illness, Jones returned to work in mid-January. A few weeks later he was formally put on a performance improvement plan. Jones filed a complaint with his employer and resigned March 2, claiming he was forced out because of his age. 

Jones' employer said he was underperforming, but the company "failed to produce any compelling evidence to objectively justify that," according to the tribunal, which noted there was "no objective information against which he is compared." 

The court did not corroborate Jones' allegations that his boss made remarks about baldness, but it found that statements his both made about wanting a "youthful" and "energetic" team "chipped away at the relationship" between employer and employee.

The court ordered a payment of 71,441.36 pounds to Jones — about $86,000 — to cover unfair dismissal, dismissal in breach of contract and "injury to feelings," as well as an added topper to cover the taxes due on the award. 

A spokesperson with Tango Networks said that Hasketh, Jones' manager, no longer works at the company.

It's not the first time baldness has made an appearance in an employment dispute. Last year, a U.K. tribunal ruled that a man whose supervisor called him a "bald c—" was a victim of sexual harassment. In that case, the panel of three male judges concluded that baldness — being much more common in men than women — is "inherently related to sex."

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