A pharmacy worker in the UK has won a NZD$30,000 payout in an age discrimination case after her younger colleagues repeatedly teased her for being old and hard of hearing.
Sue Walsh, who was 63 at the time of the discrimination, said her younger colleagues - aged between 17 and 24 - would make fun of her by yelling her name aggressively and saying: "You can't hear, can you?" in front of customers, Metro UK reports.
Walsh told a tribunal hearing she was "mocked from the outset" at her counter assistant job she started in 2017 at St Chad's Chemist in Oldham Greater Manchester.
Walsh was so embarrassed by the experience she went to the doctors to be fitted with hearing aids, but even this was not able to help the situation.
Colleagues would make Walsh feel bad if she ever forgot how to do something and had to ask a question.
They would tell her: "Not again, you have already asked me this."
When Walsh told bosses if her son talked to her like her colleagues did she would "slap him in the face," she was simply told to "smile and get on with the job."
In 2018 Walsh then complained to the director of the pharmacy who said her colleagues "were just kids," and to "let it go over her head."
After the complaint, she was subjected to even more mocking and discrimination from her 24-year-old manager.
Walsh was then fired after suffering a back injury after falling at work and calling in sick.
At the tribunal, it was ruled Walsh had been the victim of age and disability discrimination and was awarded £15,649 (NZD$30,000).
