The older man, a manager at Birmingham City Council in his mid-50s, also made comments about his colleague being a “newcomer” and “only a trainee”, The Times reports.

He told his younger colleague – who was in his mid-thirties – that he could “get rid of you like I have the others in the past”.

He also warned “any of you youngsters” against applying for a more senior role at the council.

Employment judge Christopher Camp found that the manager had sought to bring his colleague “down a peg or two, to show him who was boss and to curb his ambitions because he considered him a ‘baby’ or a ‘pup’”.

The comments and conduct were “outside the realms of acceptable workplace banter” and amounted to age discrimination and age-related harassment, he found.

The younger man will not receive compensation for the discrimination, but will receive a payout after the council admitted constructive dismissal.