Job seeker dubbed himself 'most qualified person in the UK' before 'trashed interview'

A jobseeker who dubbed himself the 'most qualified person in the UK' for a senior manager role claimed he was 'trashed' by the interviewer because of his age. David Hughes lost his age discrimination claim against Whitmans Laboratories Limited - the manufacturing arm of cosmetics brand Estee Lauder.

He accused the firm of using child labour and likening him to a 'dirty old man', a Birmingham employment tribunal heard. Mr Hughes brought the employment tribunal proceedings against the firm after his failed job interview at the age of 68 in February 2023.

He claimed he was 'trashed' by interviewer Sharon Gollan because of his age, alleging she told him the workforce was predominantly 16 to 18 years of age and the manufacturing process was 'akin to an underage sweat shop'.

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Mr Hughes - who said that he has worked for companies such as Biosynex and Rolls Royce - said it was 'disgraceful' that Whitmans Laboratories Limited had an alleged underage workforce. By the end of the interview, Ms Gollan said she would not ever let him near any of 'her girls'.

The tribunal heard that he interpreted this to mean that he was like a 'dirty old man' who was unsafe to be around girls - something he believed 'trashed him'. Mr Hughes alleged that the interview was for the firm to see if the applicant was a 'model in term of looks and age and whether they drove Range Rovers or not'.

He said a fellow applicant who he had been in touch with via his 'Indian contacts' was a 40-year-old man called Mr Abbott, from Mumbai, who got a second interview despite being 'lesser qualified'. During the hearing, Mr Hughes referred to Mr Abbott as "Mr India" or "Mr Mumbai", which the judge said was 'impolite'.

The tribunal judge was not persuaded that Mr Abbott exists or ever existed. Mr Hughes also described himself as being the most qualified person in the UK for the job role - a senior manager, Quality Operations.

Ms Gollan believed Mr Hughes 'was not a good fit' because she considered him 'patronising/superior, rigid, not visionary, not engaging or empowering and basically dictatorial in style'. No-one was ever offered the position, the tribunal heard.

The tribunal judge said there was 'nothing inherently discriminatory about any of those reasons', adding that 'there is simply no evidence to suggest that age was a factor'. The judge added: "The evidence given by the claimant, in general, was far-fetched and had little or no support in any other evidential way.

"There is no evidence supporting the respondent having a child workforce on its manufacturing lines." He added: "The claimant also made far-fetched allegations, again entirely without any other supporting evidence, that the stage one interview was simply to see whether a person was good looking, young or supportive enough of the child labour approach to get a stage two interview.

"This is not plausible based upon what we have seen and heard, and we do not believe the respondent had that approach."