Samantha Roberts originally took Aegon to court to sue for unfair redundancy dismissal in February 2008. She was successful, but as she gained a job at Just Retirement soon after, the London Central Tribunal could not award compensation for loss of earnings.
However, the tribunal did award her £37,188.30 as compensation for losing her defined benefit (DB) pension scheme at Aegon as a result of her redundancy.
The court reasoned that while her new job at Just Retirement brought an end to a possible loss of earnings claim, there was a continuing pension loss due to the fact that Just Retirement only offered a defined contribution (DC) scheme for employees.
The tribunal also noted she was unlikely to ever be able to join a DB scheme in future.
Aegon is claiming that pensions and earnings should not be treated differently. In addition, it claims that since Just Retirement’s wages were higher than she had received at the insurer, the remuneration package at Just Retirement, even with the less favourable pension arrangements, would leave Roberts better off.
Fiona Morgan, solicitor at Kennedys, said the case served as a useful reminder that compensation for the loss of “the increasingly rare and valuable benefit of final salary pension can carry through to retirement and beyond, even where an employee has secured new employment on a higher salary in the intervening period”.
