BBC employee wins bullying settlement

A BBC employee has been paid £30,000 by the corporation after she agreed to drop her bullying case at an industrial tribunal, it has emerged.

According to The Times, BBC human resources manager Indira Histon claimed that she was bullied after questioning a redundancy payout to Sue Lynas, the BBC's former director of marketing, communications and audiences in its audio and music division.

Speaking at Watford employment tribunal, Histon said that she challenged the £256,750 payment to Lynas - equivalent to two years' pay - on grounds that it breached BBC guidelines that "management interest terminations" should be capped at one year's pay.

After telling BBC management that the payment was excessive and a "misuse of licence fee payers' money", Histon claims that she suffered "detrimental treatment and bullying".

"The team and I were shocked by the suggestion that we would pay this amount of money to an individual, particularly as we believed the payoff was excessive for a management interest termination and amounted to a misuse of licence fee payers' money," she said.

"In addition to this, the member of staff was due to retire on June 5, 2010. I also believed that the payoff was inappropriate given that the individual wanted to leave voluntarily."

The BBC said that it reached a "consensual termination agreement on the basis of redundancy" with Lynas after a staffing review. It also said that there was a "business case" for not imposing the 12-month cap on her redundancy pay.

The tribunal was told yesterday that Histon had withdrawn her claim after reaching a settlement deal with the BBC.

A BBC spokesman said: "We are pleased that this matter has been resolved. The allegations, which have been withdrawn by the claimant, were without merit and strongly denied by the BBC throughout.

"On this occasion, with legal costs threatening to exceed the value of any claim, the BBC agreed a quick settlement in order to make best use of licence fee payers' money."