A medical secretary aged 89 has become one of the oldest workers to win an age discrimination claim.
Eileen Jolly was awarded £200,000 by the NHS after being led from her office over claims she could not use a computer.
A tribunal heard she was sacked for a “catastrophic failure in performance” after becoming stuck in “old secretarial ways”.
She took her NHS trust to a employment tribunal and won one of the largest sums for age discrimination.
Judge Andrew Gumbiti-Zimuto wrote: “There was evidence of the claimant’s training having been inadequate, incomplete and ‘on the job’ training was ad hoc and not directed.”
In September 2016 Eileen, who has a heart condition and arthritis , was suspended from her job at Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading.
She was dismissed in January 2017 and her appeal against the decision was rejected.
The following week Eileen was prescribed antidepressants.
The tribunal heard she felt such a “deep sense of shame” over losing her job that she lied to her family, including her late husband, that she had retired.
