Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • 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
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • 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
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Latest NewsEqual payEmployment tribunalsGender pay gapUnfair dismissal

Former TalkTalk exec to crowdfund tribunal bid

by Jo Faragher 14 Oct 2019
by Jo Faragher 14 Oct 2019

A former TalkTalk executive has launched a crowdfunding campaign to take the company to tribunal for unfair dismissal and equal pay.

Rebecca Burke led a cybersecurity programme at the telecoms company after it had been hit by a high-profile hacking scandal in 2015. She was made redundant 15 months later and subsequently discovered that four of her male colleagues were paid up to 40% more in salary and 50% more in bonuses.

The three colleagues also kept their jobs when she lost hers.

Equal pay

How to carry out an equal pay audit 

How can an employer defend an equal pay claim? 

Her tribunal was due to be heard in December last year but her barrister, Naomi Cunningham, asked for a new panel to sit on it on the grounds that it was hostile to the case.

At the time, Cunningham said: “No claimant in an equal pay case listening to the exchanges could be expected to feel any confidence that any part of her claim would get a fair hearing.”

The tribunal, chaired by Judge Graeme Hodgson, adjourned for several days to consider the request before declining to step down, which led to the case being rescheduled.

Having personally funded her initial claim, she is now using crowdfunding platform CrowdJustice to raise funds for her new hearing, scheduled for 27 January 2020. If she wins the case, any settlement will be given to women’s equality campaign groups the Fawcett Society and Time’s Up.

Rebecca Burke’s campaign is supported by journalist Carrie Gracie, who brought a similar claim against the BBC
Photo: PA/PA Archive/PA Images

Burke said: “When I started this case I was shocked to think that a British business could treat a woman so unfairly but this life-changing experience has opened my eyes to the gender discrimination and equal pay issues that women and girls are facing every day.

“Getting this far has cost me enormously, emotionally and financially, but as a result I am totally committed to getting justice, raising money for a vital cause, and drawing attention to the plight of other women in similar situations.”

She said she was “humbled” to garner support from campaigners including former BBC China editor Carrie Gracie and Sam Walker, who won an equal pay and unfair dismissal claim against the Co-operative Group, where she was HR director.

Walker said: “Unfortunately, there is very little information in the public domain to show how much of this is happening.

“All too often women cannot afford the financial or mental toll this takes on them and end up signing NDAs and settling out of court for sums far less than they have lost in the ‘back pay’ owed. There needs to be legal reform and reform within financial reporting mechanisms to reveal the extent of equality ‘pay-offs’ that are happening all the time.

“For those women who do litigate and win, there is no award for costs in the tribunal system, unlike in the county courts, so you are lucky if you even cover your costs with the amount awarded. Rebecca has no alternative but to crowd fund her next stage. She is indeed a brave woman.”

TalkTalk has an average gender pay gap of 14.6% and an average bonus gap of 31.6% according to the company’s 2018 Gender Pay Report. Gracie added that “there is often an element of pay discrimination lurking behind the gender pay gap figures of big employers… without cases like this, the public is none the wiser.”

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Burke’s CrowdJustice campaign will run for 30 days from today (14 October).

D&I opportunities currently on PT Jobs

More D&I jobs

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. Jo is also the author of 'Good Work, Great Technology', published in 2022 by Clink Street Publishing, charting the relationship between effective workplace technology and productive and happy employees. She won the Willis Towers Watson HR journalist of the year award in 2015 and has been highly commended twice.

previous post
Union doubtful over government figures on teachers’ hours
next post
Queen’s Speech: Points-based immigration and Good Work Plan feature

You may also like

Fire and rehire: the relocation question

22 May 2025

Public sector workers gain pay rises of up...

22 May 2025

UK net migration slashed by half in one...

22 May 2025

How neuroscience can unlock employee recognition

22 May 2025

UK universities fret over fall in international students

22 May 2025

HSBC employees warned of office attendance link to...

22 May 2025

The Law Society: Navigating the new world of...

22 May 2025

Workplace stress: Why it’s time to rebrand resilience

22 May 2025

Restaurant tips should be included in holiday pay

21 May 2025

Fewer workers would comply with a return-to-office mandate

21 May 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...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 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • 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
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+