Sometimes (OK most of the time) I dispair about the British Legal system.
This woman appears to have made a career out of sueing public institutions.
And how the hell is a qualified Barrister living in a Housing Association property.
Race equality adviser awarded £420,000 by tribunal judges because she was turned down for a council-funded job 14 YEARS AGO
Equality campaigner Natasha Sivanandan is awarded £420,000 after 14-year court battle with Hackney Council and Hackney Action for Racial Equality
With legal fees, final bill could cost taxpayers almost a million pounds
Figure included £262,026 for financial loss and £15,000 for injury to feelings
Latest in a string of successful discrimination claims made over 25 years
A 14-year race discrimination court battle has cost the taxpayer almost a million pounds.
Equality campaigner Natasha Sivanandan won £420,000 in compensation after a council-funded anti-racism group turned her down for a job.
Top employment judge Lord Justice Mummery said qualified barrister Ms Sivanandan's long legal fight with the London Borough of Hackney was 'a 21st Century version of a 19th Century Chancery saga'.
Hackney Council now faces legal bills which may even exceed the amount of Natasha Sivanandan's payout
He compared the lengthy proceedings to a 'Dickensian narrative of allegations and counter-allegations, applications and cross-applications, misunderstandings, objections, complaints, hearings, adjournments, reviews, appeals and cross-appeals'.
The row began in June 1999 when 58-year-old Ms Sivanandan, from Wood Green, north London, applied for a job as a training and development coordinator and race discrimination case worker with Hackney Action for Racial Equality (HARE).
Lord Justice Mummery said the case was like a 19th century saga
She was turned down for the post with the charitable advice service, partly funded by Hackney, following an interview in July that year.
Within months she had started proceedings against both HARE and the Council, alleging victimisation under sex and race discrimination legislation.
She claimed that she had been treated unfairly in the interview because she had already brought a discrimination case against HARE after being turned down following a previous job interview.
In April 2002 she was awarded £15,076 by an employment tribunal in relation to that original complaint.
In June 2003 the tribunal found that HARE and the Council were liable to pay out for victimisation of Ms Sivanandan in relation to both interviews.
In 2007 she was awarded £1,905.41 against one of her interviewers in relation to 'injury to feelings caused by race discrimination'.
Then, in 2009, she was handed a £421,415 payout against the Council.
The total sum included £262,026 for financial loss, £15,000 for injury to feelings, £25,000 for injury to health and £25,000 aggravated damages plus interest and costs.
Hackney appealed, with its barrister Robin Allen QC arguing that the payout's impact on the council and public funds was 'disproportionate.'
A judge said the ET had been entitled to find the Council liable for the full amount of Ms Sivanandan's compensation
He argued it was unfair for the Council to be landed with such a huge bill - not to mention 12 years-worth of lawyers' fees - when a 'very much smaller sum' was awarded against the interviewer who Mr Allen described as 'the primary discriminator.'
Lord Justice Mummery, giving his decision on the appeal, expressed surprise at the sums involved, saying: 'On the face of it £421,415 seems to be a great deal of money to compensate Ms Sivanandan for acts of discrimination in two unsuccessful job interviews.'
However, dismissing Hackney's appeal, the judge said the tribunal had been entitled to find the Council liable for the full amount of Ms Sivanandan's compensation.
The court defeat is a disaster for Hackney which now faces enormous legal costs bills which may even exceed the amount of Ms Sivanandran's payout.
Lord Justice Mummery acknowledged that the case had cost 'a very large amount of public money' but refused to grant Hackney permission to appeal further to the Supreme Court.
A spokesman for Hackney Council said: 'We are disappointed with the outcome and are studying the judgement to decide our next step.'
The payout is merely the latest for Ms Sivanandan, who has successfully taken various bodies - mainly anti-racism groups - to court over more than 25 years.
Her first grievance came when she was working as a race adviser at London's Brent Council.
She accused a Rastafarian colleague of being 'macho and intimidating'.
Many of her cases were taken against organisations - including Barnardo's - that turned her down for jobs.
Others were against a housing association that failed to move her into a bigger home and even an employment tribunal judge.
In 2002, she won a five-figure sum against a black law centre, forcing it to close amid acrimony and financial ruin.
Her father Ambalavaner Sivanandan, director of the Institute of Race Relations think tank, told the Sunday Telegraph: 'Her actions have been unconscionable. She has taken money from the organisations I have fought to help.'
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2270535/Race-equality-advisor-handed-400k-court-victimisation-group-refused-job.html#ixzz2JWBJf2uM 
Comments