BBC Accused of Rigging Recruitment, Unfair Pay As Four News Presenters Bring Discrimination Complaint

(Left to right) Annita McVeigh, Martine Croxall, Karin Giannone and Kasia Madera arriving at the London Central Employment Tribunal in Kingsway, central London, where newsreader Martine Croxall is bringing an employment tribunal against the BBC. Picture date: Wednesday May 1, 2024. 76035548 (Press Association via AP Images)

Four BBC News presenters have accused the broadcaster of rigging recruitment processes and inflicting “physical and mental distress” on them in a joint age and sex discrimination claim lodged in April.

Hosts Martine Croxall, Karin Giannone, Kasia Madera, and Annita McVeigh, who collectively boast decades of broadcasting experience, laid out their grievances at the London Central Employment Tribunal on Wednesday, marking the start of a contentious two-day hearing.

The presenters argue they were sidelined from on-air duties after contesting their exclusion from top roles amid a channel merger in January 2023, alleging the BBC has been running a “sham recruitment exercise.” Documents from the hearing show that despite assurances of job security, the process was predetermined.

“This was because of a sham recruitment exercise where our jobs were closed even though the redundancies were not genuine as the work still exists,” the group stated.

Croxall described the atmosphere within the BBC as “hostile, degrading, intimidating,” claiming it wore them down to the point of exhaustion.

“The BBC grinds you down and breaks you,” Croxall said, arguing that unfair pay for women was “baked in” to the BBC and that men are paid more for the same roles.

The claims come amidst reports that the BBC has paid approximately £1 million to these presenters while they remained off air. The tribunal is also set hear from a whistleblower supporting the women’s claims, as they seek justice for what they describe as age and sex discrimination.

The BBC, meanwhile, denies it subjected the women “to age or sex discrimination, harassment or victimisation, or has breached the sex equality clause.”