Employment tribunal avoided in age discrimination case

An employment tribunal has been avoided after a complaint lodged by a 66-year-old doctor’s surgery employee, who claimed she was unfairly discriminated against because of her age, was settled out of court.

The BBC reports that Ruth McNeil was asked to leave her part-time position as a receptionist at the practice, which cannot be named, after it was discovered that she was over 65.

She has now received £6,000 from the Edinburgh surgery.

Ms McNeil told the BBC that she had left a permanent job in order to take up her new role, which she was asked to leave after just a week.

She was unable to return to her former job as the firm was no longer hiring.

"I was in a terrible state as it was going through my mind how I was going to pay my bills, as the state pension is not enough to live on in these modern times," Ms McNeil added.

The news comes as The Age and Employment Network recently revealed that the number of employees over the age of 50 who have been made redundant has increased as a result of the recession.