Sacked worker gets record damages

By Martin Shankleman
BBC News business correspondent

The claimants were all gardeners

A sacked London park worker has been awarded record compensation of £550,000 because he was the victim of disability discrimination.

The man, who suffers learning difficulties, was unfairly sacked from his job by Lambeth Serviceteam, an employment tribunal in Croydon found.

His compensation comprises loss of earnings until retirement.

He was one of 24 members of the GMB union who had claimed they had been unfairly dismissed.

He was 34 years old when he lost his job.

'Shoddy treatment'

The claimants were all gardeners and had tended parks throughout the London Borough of Lambeth, including Clapham Common.

In total the group was awarded compensation of £1.3m.

Richard Ascough, GMB regional secretary, said he was "delighted" with the ruling, as his members had "been very shoddily treated by the employer after many years of loyal service".

The hearing was told that the employer had used a system for selecting personnel for redundancy which was weighted against disabled workers as it focused on the numbers of days of absence, and whether staff drove a car or not.

A spokesman for the GMB union said the scale of the awards was so large, it was now considering whether to re-open other recent cases involving claims of disability discrimination.

Lambeth Serviceteam has since been bought by Veolia Environment Services Lambeth.