Baroness Greenfield to initiate employment law case against RI

Posted 12/01/2010

Leading scientist Baroness Greenfield is to initiate legal proceedings against the Royal Institution (RI) after alleging that it violated employment law when selecting her for redundancy.

The neuroscientist is looking to take the RI to an employment tribunal after she was ousted from her position as director of the historic body.

She was the first and only woman to be appointed to the role in the 211-year history of the organisation, but the RI has now claimed that the position is no longer required and will cease to exist.

Lady Greenfield said she was “saddened and dismayed” by the RI’s conduct and will be moving to dispute the legitimacy of her dismissal, as well as claiming that it was motivated by sex discrimination.

She added that she “cannot see how this decision can be in the best interests of the organisation or its members”.

The most recent figures from the Tribunals Service show that the number of legal claims relating to redundancy increased from 4,480 in 2007-08 to 11,371 last year.