A former Superdry designer has won nearly £100,000 from the company after it refused to promote her because of her age.
Knitwear design specialist Rachel Sunderland, who has more than 30 years’ experience working in fashion, was employed by the Gloucestershire-headquartered firm between 2015 and 2020. The 56-year-old quit in 2020 after being repeatedly passed over for promotion by less experienced members of staff.
According to the tribunal documents, Superdry thought her risk of leaving the company was low “no matter how she was treated”.
The review noted the retailer failed to promote her or grant her the job title of lead designer, despite her experience.
The tribunal notes state: “We find that the claimant did resign from her post as a result of these acts and omissions. We accept that the claimant had every reason to anticipate promotion to lead designer status.
“She had been given no clear and satisfactory explanation as to why she had not been promoted, which would have allowed her to understand what was required of her in order to gain promotion.”
In April 2020, Ms Sunderland was placed on furlough until July. When she returned to the business, she was told she would be designing the Autumn Winter 2020 knitted accessories range, which she said “felt like a demotion” as she would be working on “key fobs and beanies”.
She handed in her notice of July that year. Ms Sunderland said “despite being angry and upset”, she wanted to leave Superdry in as “pleasant a manner as possible” - but was told she would have to work a three-month notice period as the design department was short staffed.
Ms Sunderland told the tribunal she was "demoralised" when, in September 2020, a woman with 20 years less experience than her was hired as a lead designer shortly after two other similarly ranked designers had been made redundant.
Following a five-day hearing in Bristol in March, Superdry was ordered to pay Ms Sunderland £96,208.70 in compensation for unfair dismissal and age discrimination.
A Superdry spokesman said: “Superdry is committed to equality for all of its employees. While the tribunal’s judgment does not reflect our culture and values, we thank it for conducting such a thorough review, respect its decision and will review its findings.”
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