This week’s news in brief
BT’s Mason bows out
Bob Mason is leaving his post as senior vice-president of HR for BT’s
wireless business after 29 years’ service. Mason chairs the Equal Pay Task
Force and is deputy chair of the Employers’ Forum on Disability. He is a member
of the Institute of Personnel and Development and a Fellow of the Royal Society
of Arts. www.bt.com
Poor environment
Frontline environmental staff are being penalised for working long hours and
in dreadful conditions, according to public service union Unison. The staff,
dealing with public safety during the foot and mouth crisis, have been told by
the Environment Agency for England and Wales that they will not receive the
special payments of £20 a weekday and £40 a day for weekend and bank holidays
that were introduced by the Ministry for Agriculture Food and Fisheries. www.unison.org.uk
Sacked for the blues
An employment tribunal in London has ruled that a woman who worked as a
marketing manager was sacked due to her disability. Colleen Melanophy, who was
employed at Rapport Group, suffered from manic depression and became
temporarily unwell while at work. The tribunal found that the Rapport Group had
failed to understand the nature of Melanophy’s condition by sacking her while
she was in hospital receiving treatment. www.drc-gb.org
BBC names director
The BBC has appointed a new HR director to replace Gareth Jones, who
announced his departure in March. Stephen Dando, former global HR director of
Guinness, will join early next month. The appointment follows wide-scale
restructuring within its HR division. In January, the BBC cut 99 HR jobs. www.bbc.co.uk
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Sainsbury’s partner
In our news story "Outside move for Sainsbury’s payroll" (18
April, p11) we gave the incorrect spelling for the supermarket’s outsourcing
partner. It should have read RebusHR.
