Case law Unfair 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

To continue reading please register or login to your OHW+ account.

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

Jo Faragher

Jo Faragher has been an employment and business journalist for 20 years. She regularly contributes to Personnel Today and has also written features for the Financial Times, The Times and The Guardian.

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

Dealing with tribunal claims

Managing learning for the YouTube generation

How HR can support IT with information security

You may also like

Search Jobs