Superdry ordered to pay compensation to designer who won age discrimination claim

A former Superdry designer has won almost 100,000 pounds in compensation after claiming she faced unfair dismissal and age discrimation during her time at the fashion company, an employment tribunal heard.

Rachel Sunderland, who worked as a designer at Superdry between 2015 and 2020, said younger, less qualified designers regularly received promotions instead of her, despite her extensive 30 year experience in the industry.

Over a four day trial, the tribunal heard that the company assessed Sunderland’s ‘flight risk’ as ‘low’ and the impact of her leaving as ‘medium’, an assessment that she said was not discussed with her either before or after it was made.

Sunderland was placed on furlough from April to July 2020 and, upon returning to work, handed her notice in after feeling the company’s decisions were “demoralising” and left her feeling “humiliated and degraded”.

During the trial, a flurry of representatives linked to Superdry took to the stand or submitted statements both for and against the company, including HR representatives and leaders in its design department.

Ultimately, the tribunal found that Sunderland had faced financial loss and injury to feelings due to the claimed discrimination.