After business executive Louise McCabe won a high-profile employment tribunal case for age discrimination and whistleblowing she found herself being contacted by people from all over the world sharing similar stories.

McCabe, 57, was awarded ￡125,604 compensation including ￡20,000 for injury to feelings after winning her case against Selazar, an ecommerce fulfilment service platform where she was a director. The judge found that the company had unfairly dismissed her and subjected her to discrimination for age and for raising whistleblowing disclosures about the treatment of other staff.

The tribunal ruling noted that a senior manager told McCabe in a meeting: “Calm down?.?.?.?don’t let the hormones get out of control”, and that the manager “viewed her as a menopausal — that is; an older woman”. It concluded that part of the reason for her dismissal was her age.