‘Property giant Land Securities fired me because of my foreign accent and my age’

An accountant was forced out of her job with Britain’s largest commercial property company because of her foreign accent, a tribunal heard.

Marian Herron, 59, claims she was sacked in a “sham redundancy pro­cess” the day before Land Securities announced a £378.9 million profit.

Ms Herron, originally from Singapore, was a £40,000-a-year service charge administrator for the FTSE 100 firm.

She says bosses singled her out because of her foreign accent, coupled with the fact she was nearing retirement age.

She was made redundant in a reshuffle last November, despite a good performance and having never taken a day off sick.

The London Central employment tribunal heard that a much younger temporary worker in her department was given a permanent job the previous week.

Under cross-examination, senior manager Amy Hayward denied discrimination on the grounds of race or age.

But she said that during the cuts she had considered telling one manager to apply for a new job the woman had no chance of getting.

Michael Tanney, for Ms Herron, asked: “It is a sham redundancy process isn’t it? Did you contemplate a sham redundancy process at any point?”

Ms Hayward admitted: “Yes.” She also agreed it “defied logic” not to consider past performance of workers when they were forced to re-apply for their jobs.

Land Securities’ portfolio includes some of the country’s largest shopping centres.

The tribunal heard that Ms Herron, whose job involved calculating service charges for tenants, had been working at the company’s head office in the Strand.

It was told the firm “restructured” her department last summer, cutting staff numbers from 22 to 12.

The tribunal also heard that the young temporary employee taken on permanently days before the redundancy process kept her job despite her lack of experience.

Ms Hayward denied that the process was rigged and that Ms Herron was made redundant unfairly because of her age and accented English.

Many staff involved in implementing the redundancy process had since lost their jobs, the tribunal heard.

Ms Herron is claiming for unfair dismissal as well as race and age discrimination. The hearing continues.