Legal news

Man successfully sues in sex discrimination case

Jonathan Winston Jonathan Winston
2 min read
This blog is more than 16 years old

Eversheds has been ordered to pay £123,000 in a rare case of a man claiming sex discrimination.

John de Belin, an associate at the firm’s property division in Leeds was one of two facing redundancy with the other, Angela Reinholz being on maternity leave. In deciding who to retain, the firm assessed the two of them for their financial performance, discipline history and absence records and Mr de Belin was sacked after losing the exercise by just half a point.

However, he later found out that the test score had been ‘unfairly inflated’ in Mrs Reinholz’s favour. Eversheds awarded her a maximum score, even though she was on maternity leave and justified the decision by saying that any other decision would have deprived her of the opportunity to show that she could have scored the maximum, leaving the firm open to a possible sexual discrimination claim from her.

Mr de Belin himself bought a claim at the Leeds Employment Tribunal for sex discrimination, which found that Eversheds’ way of marking had tipped the balance in Mrs Reinholz’s favour. In the judgement Judge Jeremy Shulman said that it “had the effect of depriving Mr de Belin of his livelihood. We therefore find that Eversheds discriminated against Mr de Belin on the grounds of his sex.”

The redundancy came at a time when Eversheds was cutting staff levels across Britain. Mr de Belin had worked with the firm for 14 years and earned around £100,000. Mrs Reinholz is thought to have earned about the same but had worked fewer years.

A spokesman for Eversheds said: “The tribunal disagreed with our decision to act to ensure an employee on maternity leave was not disadvantaged. We were surprised by the decision of the tribunal. We stand by the actions that we took and believe that the tribunal’s ruling is mistaken. We will be appealing.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1279205/Lawyer-axed-firm-scared-sack-pregnant-colleague.html

More Winston Solicitors news

Client feedback

Sidraa and Paulo were extremely good dealing with our house sale and purchase. We were kept updated at each stage of the process and found it easy to contact them when we wanted a to have a chat. Thank you for making everything run smoothly.
Brian
As executors of my Mum’s estate we needed to apply for Probate. We met with Monika Volsing to discuss Probate and she talked us through the process and was very friendly and helpful. Any questions we had were always answered promptly. The whole process was very quick and we cannot fault anything.
Tracy
I have found Winston’s excellent in dealing with our conveyance. This firm totally deserve 5 stars and industry awards received. They are professional, friendly and respond to all docs in an extremely straightforward way. Their pricing is also extremely reasonable. I would have no hesitation in recommending this firm and would use them again should the need arise. I would like to give a special mention to The legal representative Michelle Ayres, who dealt with the sale of mum’s house in an extremely efficient and safe manner.
Melanie
have used Winston Solicitors many times when buying and selling houses wnd would use them again if the need arose.
Tony
Extremely responsive and helpful. Always knew what stage of the process I was at
Zoe
Winston Solicitors helped me with the purchase of my first ever property. I worked directly with Leasa Foster and Julie Smith. From start to finish they were very efficient and offered detailed information for each step of the way. As a first-time buyer, I wasn’t familiar with the process or what to expect, so having everything explained clearly and receiving detailed guidance at every stage was very helpful. Whenever I had a question or needed to discuss something, there was always someone available to assist, even when Leasa was not there. I always felt well supported and guided throughout the process, which made everything feel straightforward and ensured the purchase went as smoothly as possible. I’m very happy that I chose Winston Solicitors and would highly recommend them.
Anonymous
Great service the team at Winston’s solicitors are amazing at what they do! Thank again guys
Anonymous
Winston Solicitors represented me excellently and we're in frequent contact me throughout the process. The staff are very helpful and communicate exceptionally well. I am very thankful for there assistance during a very stressful period of my life.
Nathan
Contact us