Varnish loses employment tribunal fight with British Cycling

Jess Varnish, the former track cyclist, has lost her appeal in her landmark employment tribunal case against British Cycling.

The ruling ends a four-year saga, triggered by Varnish’s abrupt dismissal from British Cycling’s elite programme a few months prior to the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Varnish, 29, argued unsuccessfully at a tribunal last year that she should have been considered an employee of the governing body or funding agency UK Sport and therefore subject to the same protections.

Her appeal against that ruling has now been dismissed after a two-day remote hearing in May.

Mr Justice Choudhury said the tribunal “had not erred” in ruling that Varnish did not have employee or worker status during her time at British Cycling, saying it was more akin to “students receiving grants”.

The ruling is significant because, had Varnish been successful, it would have paved the way for her to sue British Cycling and UK Sport for wrongful dismissal and sexual discrimination.

Varnish was axed from the programme after she and team-mate Katy Marchant criticised coaches following their failure to qualify for Rio 2016 in the team sprint.

British Cycling claimed it was for performance reasons. Soon after her exit was confirmed, Varnish claimed she had been told “to go and have a baby” by Shane Sutton, British Cycling’s former technical director.

It might also have opened the floodgates to other claims from funded athletes.

“The Varnish case is seen by many as the ‘test case’ for employment status [in UK high-performance sport] and, as such, today’s outcome will be welcome news to the sporting world,” said Emily Chalkley, senior associate at Charles Russell Speechlys. “If Varnish had been successful it could have set a precedent and potentially given over 1,000 athletes UK employment and pension rights.”

Varnish has not yet commented on the ruling, but may still seek to continue the fight in the Court of Appeal.

A British Cycling spokesperson said: “We believe that British Cycling’s relationship with riders who represent this country is not one of employer-employee, but that of an organisation supporting dedicated athletes to fulfil their potential.

“Since Jess raised her concerns about the Great Britain cycling team in 2016, we have implemented significant changes to the culture and processes of our high-performance programme.”