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Teacher wins £35,000 sexism claim against MoD
A TEACHER has won £35,000 from the Ministry of Defence after a tribunal upheld her claim that she had flown halfway around the world for a sham 13-minute interview because Army bosses were determined to hire a man.
Valerie Shelford travelled 12,000 miles and spent 36 hours in the air on a return trip to Brunei, in South-East Asia, only to be rejected for a job teaching English to Gurkhas after just six questions by an all-male panel.
The job was handed to a male teacher from the garrison - whom the interviewers already knew - even though he had less than two years' experience compared with her 15.
Army bosses claimed the man had been the better candidate but the tribunal ruled there was "no evidence" that was the case and criticised them for a "lack of transparency" after they destroyed all their notes for the two candidates.
Miss Shelford is Cambridge University's assistant principal examiner in English for speakers of other languages and has considerable experience teaching English to Nepalese students.
The tribunal found the Army guilty of sex discrimination, ruling: "We have been given no satisfactory explanation as to why the interview panel reached the view they did.
"It was obvious on the face of it that Miss Shelford had greater leadership skills. We find that Miss Shelford was discriminated against."
The Central London Employment Tribunal panel ordered the MoD to pay Miss Shelford 35,000 for loss of earnings and hurt feelings.
Speaking outside of court, 53-year-old Miss Shelford said: "I'm delighted by the outcome. The evidence that the interview was a pre-judged sham and that there was a cover-up afterwards was overwhelming.
"I suspect that the sexism I experienced in Brunei is the tip of the iceberg in the Army."
In a statement issued after the ruling, the MoD said: "The MoD notes and acknowledges the decision of the employment tribunal that Valerie Sheldon (sic] was subject to sex discrimination and regrets that this has happened.
"We await the written judgment of the tribunal and we will consider its implications and see what lessons can be learned for the future.
"There is no place for discrimination in the MoD or the Armed Forces and we are committed at the highest levels of leadership to dealing with it."
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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