The claimant alleged that the respondent did not allow him to continue to do work presenting or contributing to Channel 4 horse-racing programmes because of his age. He alleged that in contravening the Equality Act 2010 Channel 4 was “knowingly helped” by the second respondent, IMG.
Held: Channel 4 did not contravene the Equality Act 2010 and therefore IMG could not have helped them to do so. However, even if Channel 4 had acted unlawfully, IMG’s actions did not amount to “helping” for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010, s 112.
The reason the claimant was dismissed was because of his persona – emanating from his appearances on celebrity television shows and the associated press articles as well as his appearances on Channel 4 racing – and not because of his age. The respondent demonstrated a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim and therefore the claim failed.
Thomas Linden QC was involved in this case.