BBC jobs ‘rigged’
Four female journalists’ sex and age discrimination legal case under way
FOUR female journalists have begun legal action against the BBC over alleged sex and age discrimination.
Martine Croxall, Annita McVeigh, both 55, Karin Giannone, 50, and Kasia Madera, 48, claim they lost their roles following a rigged application process.
In statements, the women said: “This was because of a sham recruitment exercise where our jobs were closed even though the redundancies were not genuine as the work still exists.”
They launched their case after being snubbed over chief presenter roles.
It followed the merger of the BBC’s News and World News channels, which was announced in July 2022.
A decision has yet to be made on whether they can make an equal pay claim. Ms Croxall said “the BBC grinds you down” when it comes to pay claims.
Yesterday the group attended a preliminary two-day hearing at the Central London Employment tribunal after filing the claim with a fifth journalist who is no longer part of the case.
The chief presenter roles went to two men, Matthew Amroliwala, 62, and Christian Fraser, 50, and three women, Yalda Hakim, 40, Maryam Moshiri, 46, and Lucy Hockings, 49, in February.
The BBC is resisting the women’s legal claim in which they allege they lost their jobs and were kept off air for a year when they challenged the process.
They allege they have suffered victimisation, harassment and damage to their reputation, adding they have not been paid equally compared with male counterparts since February 2020.
The women claimed there was a gap of about £36,000 a year in pensionable salary as of February last year.
The BBC insists its application process was rigorous and fair, and also denied the claims the women were paid less than an equivalent male colleague, according to the corporation’s website.