The Court of Appeal (CoA) has ruled that a solicitor may bring an age discrimination claim against the firm that dismissed him just 10 days before it appointed a younger and less well-paid solicitor to do a similar job.

As reported in the Gazette, Sam Methuen began working at London firm Community Law Clinic (CLC) in January 2009, aged 53, but was dismissed in July 2009 for, the firm alleged, failing to meet targets. Ten days later, CLC appointed a younger, female solicitor to do a similar job at a salary £15,000 less than Methuen’s.

At a pre-trial review, the employment tribunal declined to strike out Methuen’s claims of age, sex and race discrimination. CLC appealed the ruling to the Employment Appeal Tribunal, which struck out the latter two claims, but not the claim for age discrimination.

CLC again appealed, this time to the CoA, which dismissed its appeal and awarded costs to Methuen. The case can now be referred back to the employment tribunal for judgment. City firm Leigh Day & Co acted for Methuen on a conditional fee agreement.

Nobody at CLC was available to comment.