£300,000-a-year boss, 58, branded ‘an old fossil’ wins ageism court battle
A SENIOR executive at a global engineering giant branded an ‘old fossil’ who ‘did not know how to manage millennials’ by his boss has won his age discrimination case.
Glenn Cowie was sacked and replaced by a younger woman after the introduction of a policy that discouraged hiring anyone over the age of 45, a tribunal heard.
Mr Cowie was on a £300,000-a-year salary and 58 when he was told he would be dismissed from his role as a divisional president at London-based global engineering company Vesuvius.
The tribunal heard his boss Patrick Andre appeared to have a ‘particular preoccupation with millennials’ following comments made to Mr Cowie at a meeting of bosses four years ago.
Mr Cowie – who accused the firm of having an ‘institutional and deep prejudice against older employees’ – was sacked 18 months later. The tribunal in central London heard Mr Cowie started working for Vesuvius – which makes products for the car industry, steelmakers and foundries and is listed on the FTSE250 – in 1981.
In 2014 he was promoted to global business unit president of Foundry Industries, also known as Foseco International, one of the company’s four divisions. Mr Cowie was earning more than £300,000, although his ‘overall remuneration package was significantly more valuable’.
The hearing was also told that in September 2017 Mr Andre was made Vesuvius CEO.
In February 2018 there was a meeting of company executives. Mr Cowie said Mr Andre told senior managers, including himself: ‘These new millennials will never stop pushing until they have my job and you older guys have to get used to it.’
The resignation of a manager who was in his 30s also came up at the meeting. The tribunal heard Mr Andre told Mr Cowie he was ‘an old fossil who doesn’t know how to manage millennials’. Mr Cowie said the comment ‘was so out of the blue and inappropriate’.
In May 2018 Mr Andre emailed Mr Cowie, pushing for new recruits to be no older than 45. Mr Andre confirmed this was a ‘preference’ but denied there was an ‘age ceiling’. The tribunal heard Mr Andre decided to sack Mr Cowie in February 2019, but he did not discuss this decision with him until August 2019, when he told him ‘it’s not working’.
The tribunal concluded that, while the ‘old fossil’ comment was discriminatory, it happened too long ago to form part of the case. However, Employment Judge Timothy Adkin said it formed ‘important background’ for the rest of the age claims.
He also said the under-45 policy was ‘something very close to a rule’. The tribunal ruled Mr Cowie had been unfairly dismissed and suffered age discrimination, as well as victimisation after appealing against his sacking. A compensation hearing is due in May.