An appeals court has confirmed the award of over €40,000 to a former employee of the British High Commission who was discriminated against in a redundancy payment.

Jackie Jordan worked as personal assistant to the Deputy High Commissioner from 1996 until her employment was terminated in January 2007. She was given €699 on her termination but found out that a colleague of hers, Nadia Muscat Gatt, whose employment had also ended, received €34,950.

She filed a complaint with the Industrial Tribunal claiming discrimination given the huge discrepancy between redundancy payments.

The British High Commission held that Ms Jordan was made redundant because there was no longer any work for her to do as a result of restructuring. It said Ms Muscat Gatt had been given €34,950, equivalent to two years' wages, because she could not be declared redundant on the basis of "last in first out".

The tribunal concluded that Ms Jordan's employment had not been unjustly terminated, however, she had been discriminated against in payment. It ordered the British High Commission to pay Ms Jordan €41,000 in compensation.

The British High Commission appealed, arguing that, once the termination of employment had been justified, it ought not to have been held responsible for payment of compensation.

Mr Justice Philip Sciberras declared that freedom from discrimination among employees applied not only on the place of work but also when an employment was terminated. The legal principle was that the method of computation of compensation was to be the same in the case of all employees who were made redundant.

The Court of Appeal, therefore, upheld the tribunal's decision and dismissed the British High Commission's appeal.

Lawyer Henry Antonich appeared for Ms Jordan.