£71k payout | Boss wanted to oust middle-aged man in favour of younger candidates

A sales director felt pressured to leave his job because his boss didn’t want “a team of bald-headed 50-year-old men,” a tribunal has heard.

Mark Jones, 61, was awarded £71,000 in damages at an employment appeal, after alleging that his former employer, Leeds-based mobile phone firm Tango Network, “chipped away” to encourage him to leave his £60,000-a-year role.

The employment tribunal heard that boss Philip Hesketh had complained about workplace diversity, saying he didn’t want “mirror images” of himself - that being a team of middle-aged male workers or, in his own words, “a team of bald-headed 50-year-old men”.

The court heard that Hesketh wanted to “change the dynamics” by recruiting “energetic” and “youthful” candidates for jobs.