According to commercial law firm EMW Picton Howell, complainants are making claims if they send employers CVs that include their age and do not receive a response.
This week 50-year-old Margaret Keane won a number of out-of-court payouts of between £4,000 and £10,000 when she took sued up to 22 accountancy firms when they did not reply to her job applications.
An employment tribunal ruled in five of her cases that she was a ‘serial litigator' rather than a genuine job applicant but legal experts believe this could still cause the floodgates for similar damage claims to open as employees make copycat claims.
Jon Taylor, head of employment at EMW Picton Howell, said: "These kinds of multiple claims can be worthwhile as employers sometimes decide it will just be cheaper to pay off the claimant to get rid of the claim. It's like entering a lot of competitions: the more you enter, the better the odds you'll win.
"Whatever the outcome of the cases the companies involved face very substantial legal fees and loss of management time. They also get a big black mark against their name if the claim does succeed. It is understandable that companies choose to settle out of court, even in cases where the claimant is unlikely to succeed, just to prevent negative publicity.
"Perhaps if a nominal fee were charged for lodging a claim at an employment tribunal it might stop people repeating this trick."
"Serial litigators" warning
Employers have been warned to brace themselves for a trend that has emerged where job candidates exploit age discrimination legislation to file claims against a raft of employers at the same time.
