Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on fieldwork observation of direct age discrimination cases within employment tribunal hearings over a 3 year period. The observation focussed upon whether the witness evidence revealed age stereotyping by employers and whether the employment tribunal panel addressed the stereotyping in its questioning and in its judgments. The observation was combined with an analysis of jurisprudence relating to direct age discrimination over an 11 year period. Design/methodology/approach – This research analysed a sample of 90 employment tribunal judgments concerning direct age discrimination, which included 5 fieldwork observation cases concerning direct age discrimination in an employment tribunal. Findings – This paper opens a window on age stereotyping in the workplace, illuminating the existence of age stereotypes in the context of employment tribunals and the approach of the courts towards stereotypes in the sample is analysed. Research limitations/implications - The fieldwork observation is limited to one employment tribunal and may not necessarily be representative of all tribunals however the findings are supported by a wider qualitative analysis of ET Judgments. Practical Implications – The article provides pertinent learning outcomes for claimants, employers and key implications of legal decisions for human resource policy and practice in organisations. Originality/Value –The paper is the first to conduct fieldwork observation on age stereotyping in an employment tribunal, combined with a profile of direct age discrimination claims over the period studied.

中文翻译：

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年龄定型观念：法律和实地分析

目的–本文的目的是报告在为期3年的就业法庭听证中对直接年龄歧视案件进行的现场调查。观察集中于证人证据是否显示雇主对年龄的陈规定型观念，以及就业法庭小组是否在其质疑和判决中解决了陈规定型观念。该观察结果与对11年期间直接年龄歧视的法理学分析相结合。设计/方法/方法–这项研究分析了90个关于直接年龄歧视的雇佣法庭判决的样本，其中包括5个关于雇佣法庭中直接年龄歧视的实地观察案例。调查结果–本文打开了有关工作场所中的年龄定型观念的窗口，在就业法庭的背景下阐明了年龄定型观念的存在，并分析了法院在样本中对待定型观念的方法。研究的局限性/意义-实地考察仅限于一个雇佣法庭，不一定代表所有法庭，但是研究结果得到了对ET判决的更广泛的定性分析的支持。实际意义–本文为索赔人，雇主提供了相关的学习成果，以及法律决策对组织中的人力资源政策和实践的关键意义。原创性/价值–本文是首次在就业法庭上对年龄定型观念进行实地考察，并结合了研究期间直接年龄歧视主张的概况。