National firm Eversheds last week lodged an appeal against an Employment Tribunal ruling that it must pay £123,300 in compensation to a male associate who suffered sexual discrimination during the firm’s 2009 redundancy programme.

The tribunal found that former real estate associate John de Belin was treated less favourably than another associate who was on maternity leave when he was selected for redundancy.

Eversheds’ redundancy programme was based on a points system judged against certain criteria. One criterion, which carried a maximum of two points, judged potential redundancy candidates on how quickly they achieved payment for work during a certain timeframe. A woman colleague of de Belin was automatically awarded the maximum two points for this on the grounds that she was not available to be assessed. Eversheds considered that it would have been open to a discrimination claim from her had it not awarded maximum points.

De Belin received only half a point for lock-up, giving him 27 points against the woman’s 27.5 when the final points were counted. He was selected for redundancy and took his case to the tribunal.

An Eversheds spokesman said the firm would appeal the decision on the basis that the Sexual Discrimination Act excludes maternity from being taken into account when comparing the treatment of men and women.