Bullied Indian-origin employee wins Royal Mail compensation of Rs. 24 crores in UK
London, Jul 10: In what is believed to be one of the largest compensation settlements for the UK's Royal Mail, an Indian-origin employee has been awarded more than 2.3 million pounds after her bullying claim was upheld.
Kam Jhuti had claimed before an employment tribunal dating back nearly eight years that she had been intimidated and harassed by her boss after she raised concerns that a colleague had secured their bonus illegitimately.
The tribunal went on to find that there had been a "catastrophic" impact on her over her boss' treatment of her, The Daily Telegraph' reports.
"The tribunal makes a total award of GBP 2,365,614.13, payable by the respondent to the claimant," reads an official remedy decision added to the long-running case this week.
"Subject to the paragraph below, payment of the award is stayed pending the outcome of the respondent's (Royal Mail) appeal against the tribunal's original judgment on remedies which was sent to the parties on October 3, 2022. Both parties have the liberty to apply to lift this stay," it reads.
"Of that total award, the respondent (Royal Mail) will, however, make payment of the sum of 250,000 pounds gross to the claimant; the stay does not, therefore, apply in relation to this sum. The parties agreed that the respondent will pay this sum to the claimant within 14 days of the date of this hearing," it adds.
Earlier, the tribunal had concluded that the postal service had been "high-handed, malicious, insulting and oppressive" in how it had conducted the case.
A 2019 Supreme Court hearing was told that Jhuti started work as a 50,000 pounds per year media specialist at the Royal Mail's MarketReach unit based in London in September 2013.
However, the following month, while shadowing a colleague, she began to suspect they were not following watchdog Ofcom's guidance and also breaching the company's policy in relation to bonuses known as Tailor-Made Incentives (TMIs), which she said helped the colleague to hit performance targets and directly securing a bonus for herself and "in effect defrauding the company", the newspaper reports.
Later that month, a TMI expert in the business confirmed Jhuti's previous allegations had been correct by acknowledging that media specialists were offering TMIs "inappropriately".
As the process unfolded, Jhuti began suffering from stress and went on to express concern over her boss's conduct.
She was granted a new line manager but was told she was not making the expected progress and in March 2014 was signed off with work-related stress, anxiety and depression, and never returned to work.
After taking Royal Mail to an initial employment tribunal in 2015, Jhuti's claims of unfair dismissal proceeded after the Supreme Court ruled in her favour.
As an appeal is pending in the case, the Royal Mail is expected to only make a payment of 250,000 pounds from the total compensation amount at this stage.
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IPL first phase schedule announced amid travel concerns caused by war in West Asia
New Delhi (PTI): Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2026 opener in Bengaluru on March 28 as the BCCI announced the first phase of the tournament schedule amid concerns around players' travel arrangements due to the ongoing West Asia conflict.
All matches scheduled at the Chinnaswamy Stadium remain subject to clearance from the Karnataka government appointed expert committee, which is scheduled to meet on March 13 to assess venue preparedness in the wake of the deadly stampede at the stadium last season.
The BCCI announced the schedule of the first 20 games on Wednesday and will unveil the full schedule once the dates of elections in three states -- Tamil Nadu, Assam and West Bengal -- are announced.
Besides the state elections, the escalating conflict in West Asia will also be at the forefront of BCCI officials' minds. The war has wreaked havoc to international travel with operations of major airports like Doha and Dubai being heavily restricted.
As a result of that, some of the squad members of South Africa and West Indies are yet to reach home a week after the completion of their T20 World Cup campaign.
It remains to be seen if IPL bound players of those two nations report to their respective teams in time.
"There was a substantial delay in departure of West Indies and South Africa players. It would be a tough task to get them back to India on time. Plus the airfares have gone up substantially due to the war in West Asia," a team official told PTI.
Additionally, hotels across India are facing cooking gas shortage due to the raging conflict and on Tuesday, the central government invoked Essential Commodities Act to ensure uninterrupted supply of domestic cooking gas.
Chennai Super Kings CEO Kasi Viswanthan told PTI that he is expecting his players from the West Indies and South Africa -- Akeal Hossein and Dewald Brevis, to join the team well before their IPL opener.
"We are expecting no delays from their end," he said.
The second game of the opening weekend will see Mumbai Indians host Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium and the opening weekend will not feature any double-headers.
A total of 20 matches will be played across 10 venues: Bengaluru, Mumbai, Guwahati, New Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.
"During the season, Royal Challengers Bengaluru will play five home matches in Bengaluru and two in Raipur. Punjab Kings will play four home matches in New Chandigarh and three in Dharamshala, while Rajasthan Royals will play three home matches in Guwahati and four in Jaipur," said the BCCI in a statement.
"During this period (the first 16 days), the tournament will feature four double-headers, with the afternoon matches beginning at 03:30 PM IST and the evening matches commencing at 07:30 PM IST.
"Following the opening encounter on Saturday, Mumbai Indians will take on Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.
"The matches scheduled in Bengaluru are subject to clearance from the Expert Committee constituted by the Government of Karnataka," the BCCI added.
