Oxford professor forced out at 70 wins landmark ageism case
Chief Reporter
AN OXFORD professor forced to quit before his 70th birthday has won a landmark age discrimination battle against the university.
The legal victory will put pressure on Oxford to overturn its controversial policy that allows it to dismiss academics at the age of 67. Cambridge University, one of only two other universities in the country with the same “ageist” policy, could be forced to follow suit.
Prof Paul Ewart, the university’s former head of atomic and laser physics, said he had spent £30,000 on legal fees to bring the case, including £5,000 to obtain official university statistics that showed its forced retirement policy had a “trivial” effect on its stated aim of creating vacancies for younger and more diverse staff.
Prof Ewart, now 73, stands to receive at least £150,000 in back pay although he has no guarantee of being reappointed to his old post.
He accused the University of Oxford of spending up to £1million in legal fees fighting cases brought by himself and other academics since the introduction of the age restriction in 2011.
Prof Ewart told The Daily Telegraph: “Oxford should now revoke its ageist policy. I lost my job because of this and although I’ve tried to keep my research going, my team evaporated as a result. It is not right that academics are being prevented from doing their work on the basis of their age. That is outrageous. The implication is older people cannot contribute as much as younger people and that is ageist.”
He said Oxford and Cambridge, along with St Andrews, were the only universities to introduce a policy he said “had serious deleterious consequences for important research being conducted by world-leading scientists ... dismissed because of their age”.
Prof Ewart paid £5,000 for data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency that showed Oxford’s retirement policy had only a “marginal” effect on creating vacancies for younger people.
The tribunal ruled that the policy had a “highly discriminatory effect” on older employees, which was not proportionate to any benefit.
Prof Ewart has requested he be reinstated as a senior lecturer.
He was the second Oxford professor to challenge the policy. Prof John Pitcher, a leading Shakespeare scholar and fellow at St John’s College, claimed he was unfairly pushed out at 67. He sued the college and university for age discrimination and unfair dismissal, but both claims were dismissed. Prof Pitcher is appealing that decision and can now draw on this latest ruling.
A University of Oxford spokesman said: “In light of this ruling the university will be considering its options, including the possibility of an appeal.”