Sky employees win claims for discrimination and unfair dismissal

Posted 20/12/2010

Two former employees of Sky Movies have won their case for sex discrimination and unfair dismissal after claiming they lost their jobs because they were mothers of small children.

Natalie Stone, 34, and Victoria Waterson, 31, both joined BskyB in 2004 and told an employment law tribunal they were grilled about the likelihood of them having more children during a department restructuring process.

They were then both overlooked for promotion and eventually forced out by Sky executive Mike Taylor, who had a “mindset adverse to pregnancy and maternity leave”, the court heard.

After the tribunal found in their favour, Stone and Waterson can now pursue compensation for loss of earnings and injury to feelings.

Both women will be able to claim up to £65,300 each for unfair dismissal due to current caps and an open-ended sum for sex discrimination.

Earlier this month, Workplace Law Network reported that compensation limits for unfair dismissal could rise to as much as £80,400 due to changes in statutory redundancy pay.