The BBC ‘grinds you down’ says newsreader Martine Croxall in heated employment tribunal-Meghna Amin-Entertainment – Metro

Martine Croxall has accused the BBC of ‘grinding people down’ (Picture: BBC)

Martine Croxall has accused the BBC of ‘grinding people down’ in an employment tribunal, after four female presenters have commenced legal action against the broadcaster.

The 55-year-old broadcaster is among a number of female journalists who failed to land a chief presenter role when the BBC merged its international and domestic news channels last year, and are now alleging that management had already predetermined potential candidates before the hiring process even began.

Croxall, who has been taken off air for over a year, was joined by BBC stars Karin Giannone, Kasia Madera and Annita McVeigh for a two-day preliminary hearing on Wednesday.

The presenters have argued that they were forced off air for a year and claimed they were harassed because of a ‘rigged’ recruitment process, Deadline reports.

Sharing their witness statements to the tribunal, the women called the hiring process a ‘sham’ and said it caused them to suffer age and sex discrimination, as well as equal pay concerns and harassment including a ‘hostile, degrading, intimidating environment in the workplace’.

The publication notes that Croxall told the tribunal that ‘discrimination is baked into BBC pay structures’, and that the BBC ‘grinds you down’ and ‘breaks you’ during equal pay disputes.

Annita McVeigh (L), Croxall, Karin Giannone and Kasia Madera arrived at the London Central Employment Tribunal today (Picture: PA/PA Wire)

The four female presenters have commenced legal action against the broadcaster (Picture: Peter Macdiarmid/LNP)

The women also claimed they had suffered ‘negative physical and mental health impacts’ and said they had reports from clinical psychologists.

The tribunal comes in the wake of the high-profile gender pay dispute between the BBC and Newswatch presenter Samira Ahmed.

In 2020 a London employment tribunal found that Ahmed should have been paid the same as fellow presenter Jeremy Vine for their work on Newswatch and Points Of View respectively.

The BBC had argued the pair were not doing similar work, after she asked why she was paid £495 per episode of Newswatch while Vine earned £3,000 for each instalment of Points of View.

Broadcaster Sarah Montague also previously confirmed she had won a £400,000 settlement and an apology from the BBC over unequal treatment.

Samira Ahmed won her case in 2020 (Picture: Can Nguyen/REX/Shutterstock)

In 2021 the BBC disclosed it had spent more than £1million on legal fees fighting equal pay and race discrimination cases brought by staff.

The tribunal on Wednesday comes after Croxall seemingly confirmed her return to screens, having given her final bulletin on March 31, 2023, saying it had been ‘the greatest privilege’.

She took to X with a since-deleted post last week, saying: ‘Piloting in my happy place, Studio E.’

She then told one follower that her return ‘should be May 22’.

Metro.co.uk has approached the BBC for comment.

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