Sacked Yorkshire staff take fight to High Court

THE staff members sacked in the wake of Azeem Rafiq’s whistleblowing on racism are set to turn to the High Court as part of their legal cases against Yorkshire.

Four former employees formally triggered employment tribunals last week to start the legal process, after 16 had their jobs terminated in December. Preliminary hearings at the Leeds Employment Tribunal are to be scheduled for late spring.

Although individual claims differ, it is understood the reason for the sackings will be challenged — a number were not at the club at the same time as Rafiq — as will the strength of the evidence and whether due process was followed.

It has been suggested by former chair Robin Smith that Lord Patel’s appointment in the role was ‘invalid’ after Yorkshire failed to file a key rule change with the Financial Conduct Authority to provide them with the right to appoint to the board a non-member or member of under two years’ status like Patel.

Yorkshire intend to ratify the position of Patel and that of chief executive Paul Hudson at an extraordinary general meeting on March 14. By then, more cases are expected to be listed by the Leeds Employment Tribunal. However, with wrongful dismissal claims limited to payments of notice periods and capped at £25,000, it is anticipated that some will also look to take civil action for damage done to their reputations.

Some fear the pre-Christmas dismissals will rule out the possibility of them working in cricket again, although physio Kunwar Bansil has joined Nottinghamshire after James Pipe accepted offers to work on the Twenty20 circuit.

In a bid to move on from the scandal, Patel settled Rafiq’s employment tribunal claim with a £200,000 payout, then presided over the major clear-out. The decision followed the signing of a letter by more than a dozen colleagues in support of the previous executives, Mark Arthur and Martyn Moxon, which claimed former England Under-19 captain Rafiq was a ‘problematic’ figure on a ‘one-man mission to bring down the club’.

Now, a club already in about £20million of debt, will be hit by disputes which could cost millions more and jeopardise its future.