Legal Ruling set to Rock the UK Radio Industry

MILLER Samuel, the Glasgow based legal practice which specialises in Employment Law, has won a ground breaking case which is set to have far reaching implications for the UK radio industry.

The Miller Samuel team, led by Partner Marie Macdonald, has successfully represented former Radio Clyde presenters, Adrian Coll and Kevin Cameron in their unfair dismissal claims before the Employment Tribunal, following their dismissal by the station’s owners, Bauer Group in 2011.

Initially the legal team from Miller Samuel was able to disprove Bauer’s assertions that the presenters were self-employed freelancers with no employment rights.  Coll had been a regular presenter at the Glasgow based station for 17 years and Cameron for 10.

Following the decision from the first Employment Tribunal hearing, Bauer had to accept that the DJs were employees but they then argued that Coll and Cameron were still fairly dismissed on the grounds of ‘’some other substantial reason’’ – in this case, the fact that the station owners wished to ‘’freshen up the offering they gave to listeners’’.

However, the Employment Tribunal in Glasgow has upheld Miller Samuel’s argument that this was not the reason for dismissal and as a result the dismissals were unfair. The presenters will now be entitled to compensation from their former employers.
Marie Macdonald of Miller Samuel comments;

‘‘This is a landmark case with potentially far reaching implications for the owners of UK based radio stations and today’s decision may very well open the floodgates for other unfair dismissal  claims from other presenters who have their contracts terminated or altered without their agreement.”

                          
Macdonald continues;

“The reason for this is that according to figures from Equity, the vast majority of presenters working in the UK radio industry are treated as self-employed freelancers and, until this decision, were viewed by station owners as having no employment rights. As a result of our representations on behalf of Messrs Coll and Cameron, the radio industry needs to look at presenters as employees.  Perhaps even more significantly, as a result of this ruling, radio bosses who want to dismiss presenters may leave themselves open to legal action unless proper procedures are followed in line with employment law"

A date will now be set for a judgement on the compensation which Coll and Cameron will receive in light of this ruling.