Demi
Tue, Nov-27-07, 01:14
The Telegraph
London, UK
27 November, 2007
'Old and fat employee' was 'forced out'
A grandmother was forced out of her job with a weight-loss motivation company because she was too old and fat, a tribunal heard yesterday.
Brenda Tolley, 64, had held one of the most important posts at Slimming World but was forced out because she no longer fitted their image, the tribunal was told.
Mrs Tolley, who had run award-winning classes for the group, helping thousands of people to lose extra pounds, quit her £30,000-a-year job after managers took half of her responsibilities away from her.
She is claiming age discrimination and unfair dismissal.
The tribunal panel in Reading heard yesterday that Mrs Tolley felt managers "ganged up" on her and forced her out of her role with the company - despite her 12 years of service and multiple awards.
Mrs Tolley, of Bracknell, Berks, began working for Slimming World in Alfreton, Derbs, soon after becoming a member herself in 1995.
Shortly afterwards she was approached about becoming a consultant, a role that involved running her own classes.
By 1999 she had four classes under her supervision and became a team developer for the Wokingham and Bracknell areas.
This involved additional responsibilities such as helping to expand the Slimming World business, and saw her earnings rise to £30,000 a year.
Mrs Tolley told the panel that out of the blue on April 17 of this year she was called in for a meeting with her line manager, Lisa Armstrong, and regional manager, Yvonne Sanders.
The tribunal heard that her performance was criticised and she was told she had to give up half of her classes and half of her team of consultants.
This was despite her having an award-winning team and receiving company awards for attracting more than 100 people to some of her classes.
It was at this point that she wrote to Caryl Richards, Slimming World's managing director, tendering her resignation.
In papers presented to the tribunal yesterday, Mrs Tolley said she felt she had been discriminated against by managers.
"Soon after I had left I found out that my class had been taken over by someone much younger than me and this, along with one or two other things, led me to believe that the reason why Slimming World had wanted to get rid of me was because I was too old and did not have the right look or image that they were after."
Speaking at the pre-hearing, she said: "I felt I did not have a chance. I felt ganged up on at that point, I was not getting the support."
The tribunal heard that Slimming World bosses offered her the chance to talk about the situation at three meetings but she refused, claiming she did not think they would make any difference.
The pre-hearing review continues.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/27/nslim127.xml
London, UK
27 November, 2007
'Old and fat employee' was 'forced out'
A grandmother was forced out of her job with a weight-loss motivation company because she was too old and fat, a tribunal heard yesterday.
Brenda Tolley, 64, had held one of the most important posts at Slimming World but was forced out because she no longer fitted their image, the tribunal was told.
Mrs Tolley, who had run award-winning classes for the group, helping thousands of people to lose extra pounds, quit her £30,000-a-year job after managers took half of her responsibilities away from her.
She is claiming age discrimination and unfair dismissal.
The tribunal panel in Reading heard yesterday that Mrs Tolley felt managers "ganged up" on her and forced her out of her role with the company - despite her 12 years of service and multiple awards.
Mrs Tolley, of Bracknell, Berks, began working for Slimming World in Alfreton, Derbs, soon after becoming a member herself in 1995.
Shortly afterwards she was approached about becoming a consultant, a role that involved running her own classes.
By 1999 she had four classes under her supervision and became a team developer for the Wokingham and Bracknell areas.
This involved additional responsibilities such as helping to expand the Slimming World business, and saw her earnings rise to £30,000 a year.
Mrs Tolley told the panel that out of the blue on April 17 of this year she was called in for a meeting with her line manager, Lisa Armstrong, and regional manager, Yvonne Sanders.
The tribunal heard that her performance was criticised and she was told she had to give up half of her classes and half of her team of consultants.
This was despite her having an award-winning team and receiving company awards for attracting more than 100 people to some of her classes.
It was at this point that she wrote to Caryl Richards, Slimming World's managing director, tendering her resignation.
In papers presented to the tribunal yesterday, Mrs Tolley said she felt she had been discriminated against by managers.
"Soon after I had left I found out that my class had been taken over by someone much younger than me and this, along with one or two other things, led me to believe that the reason why Slimming World had wanted to get rid of me was because I was too old and did not have the right look or image that they were after."
Speaking at the pre-hearing, she said: "I felt I did not have a chance. I felt ganged up on at that point, I was not getting the support."
The tribunal heard that Slimming World bosses offered her the chance to talk about the situation at three meetings but she refused, claiming she did not think they would make any difference.
The pre-hearing review continues.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/27/nslim127.xml