Andrew Gayle

Has won his case against unfair dismissal. (Whilst not getting into the argument over who said what in the racism claims.) I'm glad those sacked are fighting back.
To sack everyone carte blanche. Was deplorable. It would be a stain on any innocent parties. And there should have been individual investigations.

 

Five other coaches too.

 

Rightly so as well . Although the racism that went on was disgraceful, the way the club sacked employees was always going to lead to claims of unfair dismissal . It's going to be expensive for the club .

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/61729326

They had ages to get shut of him for being rubbish and didn't take the opportunity. I am glad innocent people who were sacked without doing nothing wrong are going to get paid.

 

Well, it would have cost Yorkshire anyway if they'd have kept them. New slate now, and hopefully starting towards a fully inclusive Yorkshire.

 

Not sure of the point Helen. If they'd have kept them. They would still be paying staff similar amounts to the new personnel I assume. With no tribunal/compensation claims.
I'd also want extremely good payments for any damages to my reputation.

 

Not sure if any on here has knowledge of employment law in these circumstances, but the compensation is going to be a lot.

 

Clearly this is a legal matter that will hinge on the reasons for dismissal and the severance, or lack of, associated. But, whilst making no comment on whether the club followed the correct process, I don't see there was much choice but to remove the hierarchy. The club had been found to have endemic institutional racism. That can only flourish in an environment where at best good people in lesdership positions don't challenge the culture. The fate of those sacked seemingly hinged on a letter they all co-signed criticising Azeem Rafiq and the club for accepting there was a problem. In trying to move the club forward I would say that makes their position pretty untenable.

There's clearly been procedural errors throughout the rebirth of Yorkshire, but on the whole I think Lord Patel and others have done a very good job at rehabilitating the club and it's reputation, in the face of some pretty concerted opposition from those within who were part of the problem.

I certainly feel happy going to watch and support them again, and at some points I didn't think that would be the case.

 

Surely their reputation will be somewhat damaged by the fact they failed to act in a timely and proper manner when they were at the helm?

 

They sacked 16 people Helen. 6 of which were backroom medical staff.

 

Not sure if people are aware but the previous CEO, Mark Arthur, and Director of Cricket, Martyn Moxon, have already received pay-offs from Yorkshire. These are thought to be in the region of £500,000 to £750,000.

Yorkshire's latest accounts show a £1.9m provision for further costs arising from the episode.

In addition, Yorkshire's T20 receipts are disappointing this year due to a combination of the ECB's prioritisation of the god-awful Hundred and the fact that all our home games are being crammed together at the start of the competition.

Yorkshire's new management has also 'splashed the cash' on its much expanded and big name new coaching structure and on overseas players. If the upcoming New Zealand Test Match is not a success, the club could be in some serious difficulties.

For what little it's worth, my opinion is that a lot of these problems lie at the door of the ECB and the Commons Committee. I have no doubt that some or all (most probably some, but those most responsible) of those who resigned or dismissed could have been removed for a fraction of the cost if proper process had been allowed to take its course. Instead, the clamour, threats and hysteria for summary action by the MPs and by the ECB to smokescreen their own total inadequacy throughout the whole affair left Yorkshire's new leaders with little alternative but to take pre-emptive and, ultimately, legally insecure actions.

 

Conversely what would the ongoing losses arising from no international cricket, no sponsorship, and no revenue from supporters who felt unable to continue following Yorkshire after hearing the testimony and admissions that arose from the process.

I agree that the ECB and the sport itself are as complicit in the awful culture around the game. But at least the blood letting means Yorkshire can move forward and actually be the shining light in creating an inclusive culture within cricket.

As noted earlier it would seem the process itself likely had errors but I can't take fault with the dismissals once the letter was signed and sent.

 

So they’ve made a proviso of £1.9m …
In my limited knowledge of payouts I would expect a total figure well in excess of this when there are over a dozen people involved.

Not good for YCC

 

Who knows other than that that scenario or the one of paying several millions in compo are both potentially financially crippling. My point, however, was that it never needed to be an 'either/or' situation.

I personally find it thoroughly reprehensible of the new regime to be summarily sacking those lower down the previous one without due process whilst at the same time sat cosily negotiating hefty pay-off payments for those executives, Arthur and Moxon, at the top of the previous regime, the very people most responsible for and doing the least to prevent the horrific culture that they presided over.

 

Good to see Richard Damms is cleared. I used to work in same office as him when he left to take the Academy role up. Spoke to him him just before Xmas, he was absolutely gutted that he had been implicated in all of this and then ultimately lost his job

 

What's the latest on Ballance. I believe he is still at the club, though unavailable through mental health.? I find it strange he was one of the accused. But still at the club. Given what Tarntyke says in his post re what happened to RD seems unfair to say the least.

 

I definitely agree in principle with the point about seniority, although I don't think there is any confirmed information in the public domain on that, but also any payments would be proportionate to salary and only confirmed once agreed. If someone chooses to negotiate rather than take legal action surely any compensation would be agreed before someone pursuing legal recourse?

Also I think in some cases the lower seniority staff weren't employed by the club regardless, they worked for a third party organisation who had their contract terminated.

Again none of us know the detailed issues around process which are being challenged, but I don't see there was a tenable situation to leave a leadership group in place, especially when they had signed a letter undermining the conclusion that there was a reluctance within the club to acknowledge the problem.

 

Also just to be clear:

"The club acknowledges the judgment that no disciplinary process was followed, which it has accepted in order to minimise the tribunal time taken up by these cases.

"At this preliminary stage, the tribunal has not made any judgment on the reasons for dismissal and the club's firm view is that the dismissals were necessary and justified."

This ruling is seemingly about processes, not that any dismissals were unjustified.

 

Exactly. If we'd have lost the test and ODI we might not have got them back. Yorkshire CCC acted despicable, dragged their heels and had to be pulled kicking and screaming to release the report. I feel sorry for those lower down that got caught up in the mess but action needed to be taken As the saying goes, you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs.

 

Well it's took him a while but finally he's got a lot to say. All 3,500 words of it (according to a Daily Mirror article).....