Horse racing TV personality John McCririck has lost his age discrimination claim against Channel 4. Mr McCririck had claimed that he had been dismissed because of his age and had taken his high profile case to an employment tribunal.
The tribunal panel chose to accept the evidence of the TV broadcasting company, which explained that the decision to dismiss had related to the questionable and sexist comments and behaviour Mr McCririck had demonstrated on a number of TV reality programmes. In 2012, sports media business IMG took over the production of Channel 4’s racing schedule and had an agenda of widening the programme’s audience.
In the end, the tribunal agreed with Channel 4’s submission that Mr McCririck’s persona, behaviour and gestures were not a good fit with the programme’s objectives and that his opinions were viewed as ‘arrogant and confrontational’. However, the panel did criticise Channel 4 for failing to show leadership, prepare proper job descriptions, get advice from HR or speak to other presenters whose jobs were at risk of redundancy.
Immediately following the outcome, Mr McCririck apologised to anyone who had hoped that his case would set a precedent and encouraged others to submit age discrimination claims.
Read the full article here: John McCririck loses age discrimination case against Channel 4.
