Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Case lawUnfair dismissal

BBC spent close to £500,000 fighting unfair dismissal claim

by Jo Faragher 5 Nov 2015
by Jo Faragher 5 Nov 2015 Photo: Matt Cetti-Roberts/LNP/REX Shutterstock
Photo: Matt Cetti-Roberts/LNP/REX Shutterstock

The BBC spent nearly £500,000 failing to defend an unfair dismissal claim brought by its former chief technology officer John Linwood, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed.

This was in spite of the fact that Linwood’s lawyer had tried to settle the claim for a tenth of that sum, according to a report in the Sunday Times last year.

Dealing with tribunal claims

How to decide whether to settle or fight an employment tribunal claim

Employment law manual: disciplinary rules and procedures

Linwood lost his job at the BBC in 2013 after the corporation’s £100 million Digital Media Initiative failed.

He brought and won a claim for unfair dismissal, and the FOI request has revealed that the BBC’s legal fees and VAT in relation to the case totalled £498,000.

On top of this, the BBC had to pay damages to Linwood, reported to be around £80,000.

At the time, the tribunal criticised the BBC’s “wholly inadequate” disciplinary procedures in relation to how it handled Linwood, who claimed he had been made a “fall guy” for the failure of the initiative.

Evidence was presented to the tribunal that BBC executives had made a decision to exit Linwood from the business before the closure of the Digital Media Initiative was announced.

Email evidence discussing his departure were also discovered, the tribunal heard, including one message from strategy chief James Purnell that said: “We need a clear line on [John Linwood] on whether he is resigning or being fired and why”.

The tribunal’s response to this was: “It was notable that there was no third option in Purnell’s mind, such as a different disciplinary outcome.”

When the closure of the initiative was announced, Linwood refused to resign and his suspension was announced internally.

The tribunal found the BBC’s processes to have given an “apparently cavalier disregard for any of the accepted norms of a fair disciplinary process”, and that there was a “deeply ingrained cultural expectation within the organisation of sacrificial accountability”.

Jo Faragher
Jo Faragher

Jo Faragher has been an employment and business journalist for 20 years. She regularly contributes to Personnel Today and writes features for a number of national business and membership magazines. She won the Willis Towers Watson HR journalist of the year award in 2015 and has been highly commended twice.

previous post
Managing learning for the YouTube generation
next post
How HR can support IT with information security

You may also like

Christian doctor loses transgender pronoun case, but beliefs...

29 Jun 2022

Long Covid: what tribunal’s disability ruling means for...

23 Jun 2022

Whistleblowing nurse awarded £462k for unfair dismissal

15 Jun 2022

Frewer v Google: How it’s getting harder to...

30 May 2022

Aspers casino cashier excluded by colleagues wins £75k...

23 May 2022

Solicitor unfairly dismissed during cancer recovery awarded £17k

6 May 2022

School discriminated against Christian caretaker who tweeted against...

3 May 2022

Philosophical belief: barrister’s tribunal claim against Stonewall begins

26 Apr 2022

P&O Ferries: owner DP World pulls out of...

8 Apr 2022

P&O Ferries chef launches unfair dismissal and discrimination...

6 Apr 2022
  • NSPCC revamps its learning strategy with child wellbeing at its heart PROMOTED | The NSPCC’s mission is to prevent abuse and neglect...Read more
  • Diversity versus inclusion: Why the difference matters PROMOTED | It’s possible for an environment to be diverse, but not inclusive...Read more
  • Five steps for organisations across the globe to become more skills-driven PROMOTED | The shift in the world of work has been felt across the globe...Read more
  • The future of workforce development PROMOTED | Northumbria University and partners share insight...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+