MP aide ‘unfairly’ fired
AN EMPLOYMENT tribunal has ruled Labour MP Khalid Mahmood dismissed his former aide, Elaina Cohen ‘unfairly’.
Senior adviser Cohen was dismissed a year after she raised serious concerns about alleged criminal behaviour by a work colleague, the tribunal heard.
However, the 61-year-old MP for Birmingham Perry Bar claimed he dismissed her for “disrespecting and trying to intimidate him”.
Reports said Cohen described her boss a “first class idiot” in an email copied into Sir Keir Starmer.
Last Tuesday (2), a tribunal led by Employment Judge Adkin ruled the MP’s decision to sack Cohen amounted to unfair dismissal under the Employment Rights Act 1996. According to the panel, Cohen was ‘marginalised and isolated from January 2020 until her dismissal. It ordered Mahmood to pay her compensation, but the amount was reduced due to her behaviour, the MailOnline said.
Cohen started to work for the MP in his House of Commons office in 2003. Later, they entered a ‘romantic relationship’, which ended in 2005.