Sketchwriter launches age discrimination case

Posted 20/06/2012

A former sketchwriter has launched an age discrimination case against the Daily Telegraph after he claimed he was forced out of his role because he was deemed to be too old.Andrew Gimson’s contract at the newspaper was terminated after seven-and-a-half years of employment under editor Tony Gallagher, reports the Guardian.Earlier this week in an unfair dismissal hearing at the London Central employment tribunal, Mr Gimson stated that Mr Gallagher was guilty of “behaving with brutal intolerance towards a colleague who dares to disagree with him”.He added the newspaper editor showed a “brusque and bullying determination to get his own way”.Mr Gimson noted it felt like he had been kicked in the teeth when he was asked to move into a new role as a leader writer.He said he was being replaced by someone 20 years younger than him as the paper’s sketchwriter.Mr Gallagher claims he made every effort to persuade Mr Gimson – who has recently written for the Guardian – to remain at the paper.Posted by Hywel Griffiths