Redundancies – avoiding discriminatory scoring criteria
Monday 30th June 2025
The Employment Tribunal (ET) awarded £50,926 for unfair dismissal due to inadequate consultation and discriminatory scoring criteria in Norman v Lidl Great Britain Ltd.
Background
Mr Norman (C) was a senior construction consultant at Lidl (R). C was 63 years old and had worked for R for over 20 years. He was the oldest on his team, with his colleagues being half his age.
In March 2023, R carried out a restructuring which resulted in a headcount reduction with C’s team.
R used a redundancy selection matrix with a range of criteria, including knowledge, experience, skills, and disciplinary record. C scored second on the matrix, resulting in his selection for redundancy, with only one point between him and his retained colleague.
One category where C had scored lower was under the ‘knowledge’ criterion, as R indicated that C did not possess a construction degree or qualification.
As a result, C claimed indirect age discrimination because he scored lower for not having a degree. He also claimed unfair dismissal after raising concerns regarding deficiencies within the redundancy consultation process.
Decision and Award
The ET found that requiring a degree within the scoring criteria indirectly discriminated against older candidates, as those aged 60 and over are less likely to have degrees than those in their 30s.
It was held that C was placed at a disadvantage as he scored lower than his younger colleagues for not having a degree and was selected for redundancy. Further, R could not objectively justify the requirement for a degree.
The ET also determined that C’s dismissal was unfair due to substantial shortcomings in the consultation process, including the destruction of scoring notes as directed by HR which hindered managers’ ability to adequately explain their scoring decisions.
Comment
Redundancy selection criteria must be objective and thoroughly examined to ensure they do not disproportionately disadvantage any protected group within the selection pool unless the employer can objectively justify them. Employers should first consider whether these criteria can be replaced with alternatives less likely to result in discrimination.
If you require any assistance with the redundancy process, including evaluating your proposed selection criteria, please contact a member of the employment team.
