The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has reached a legal settlement with its former director-general Tony Danker, who was dismissed last year following allegations about his behaviour.
A statement from the business group said it had agreed an undisclosed settlement with Danker, who was ousted in April 2023.
An independent investigation into Danker’s behaviour found that his conduct had fallen short of what was expected of him.
A CBI spokesperson said: “The CBI has today settled legal action brought against the organisation by Tony Danker after his dismissal in April 2023. The CBI board has agreed an undisclosed settlement with Mr Danker.
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“The CBI board also reiterates that Mr Danker is not associated in any way with the historical allegations reported in the media concerning matters which pre-date his tenure at the CBI and rejects any such association.”
It is not clear from the CBI’s statement what Danker had included in his legal claim.
Before Danker’s dismissal, the CBI faced unrelated allegations about sexual misconduct by senior figures at the organisation. He stepped aside while an investigation took place.
The CBI has since apologised to employees for recruiting “toxic” staff and appointed former employee and executive board member Rain Newton-Smith as chief executive in a bid to turn around the organisation’s culture.
After the allegations of sexual harassment were published in the media, thousands of members, including John Lewis, BMW, Virgin Media O2, cancelled their membership. It claims to currently have 170,000 members.
The CBI has recently called on the chancellor to use his upcoming Budget to expand non-taxable health support for employees by making employee assistance programmes a fully tax-free benefit. It also wants to see increased capacity at the Home Office to reduce visa processing delays, and urged the government to deliver the planned expansion of funded childcare hours by helping the sector increase the size of its workforce.
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