A 56-year-old NHS manager in Yorkshire is suing her employers after she was refused a new position.
Linda Sturdy, who has worked for the NHS Trust for more than 17 years, believes that her employers discriminated against her because of her age. She claims they gave the job to a younger candidate even though she was better qualified and experienced, and that she was offered a junior position she worked her way up from 15 years ago.
As her department prepared for a reshuffle, partly to save on management costs, Ms Sturdy claimed she was told that she was in line for a integral senior position. She says this position was filled by a 43-year-old colleague after managers discovered she was three years from retirement.
Feeling insulted after she was offered a far junior position, Ms Sturdy filed a lawsuit against the Trust claiming age discrimination alongside bullying and undue emotional stress. She won her case at an employment tribunal and could be seeking up to half a million in damages from her former employers.
These damages, along with the thousands of pounds in legal costs the organisation will have to pay, should be covered if the Trust has some form of professional insurance in place for employee compensation cases.