A Capita man working in a Telefonica call centre has won a sex discrimination lawsuit against the outsourcing giant after bosses threatened him with a pay cut if he took paternity leave.
Madasar Ali wanted to take paternity leave to care for his new daughter, Yasmin, but was told he would only receive two weeks off on full pay, The Times reported today.
Ali’s job had been TUPE’d across from Telefonica in an infamous 2013 outsourcing deal that saw 1,000 staff walk rather than join Capita. In the end, 2,308 people were transferred to the mobile operator.
The call centre worker’s wife had been diagnosed with postnatal depression and she was advised by her doctor to return to work. Yet when Ali explained this to his line manager, Lora Tummons, who asked for advice from Capita HR employee Debbie Oddie, his plea fell on deaf ears.
Women employees at Telefonica were offered 14 weeks of maternity leave paid at an enhanced rate whereas men were given just two weeks off at the statutory minimum rate. Although the law changed in 2015 so both parents can share parental leave of up to 37 paid weeks and 50 weeks in total, Capita insisted on carrying on with the old, discriminatory set of rules.
