63-year-old accuses council of ageism

Published on Friday 6 April 2007 01:15

A COUNCILLOR aged 63 has accused his own local authority of age discrimination after it failed to interview him for a job.

Bill Martin, a retiring independent member of Renfrewshire Council, is the first person in Scotland to take an age discrimination claim to an employment tribunal since new age equality laws were introduced in October.

Mr Martin, who was a further education lecturer at Paisley's Reid Kerr College for 32 years, said he felt hurt after being advised that he would not be interviewed for the part-time post of pupil support worker with the council because of the number and quality of applicants.

"I thought the application would just be a formality to get to the interview stage," he said.

"It was a very big insult to me to be rejected. I don't think 63 is too old. I am more than able to do the job."

The council, which denies discrimination,

argued that because Mr Martin was a member of the council at the time he applied, his job application was rejected last October on the grounds that the Local Government (Scotland) Act prohibited his employment with the same authority.

The tribunal ruled that the case could proceed to a hearing but advised that, if successful, Mr Martin could only receive an award for hurt feelings at the bottom end of the scale, in the region of 750.