CBI settles wrongful dismissal case with former boss Tony Danker
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has agreed to settle a wrongful dismissal case brought by former boss Tony Danker.
The business organization dismissed Danker as director general last April after complaints about his conduct.
The terms of the payout were not disclosed, but are the latest embarrassment for the crisis-plagued organization.
Danker, 52, was criticized for inviting younger colleagues to karaoke or breakfast meetings.
In a BBC interview after his dismissal, he admitted that some staff felt “very uncomfortable” and apologized.
Settlement: The Confederation of British Industry sacked former boss Tony Danker (pictured) as director general last April after complaints about his conduct
The CBI said at the time that his conduct “did not meet what was expected of his position.”
But Danker said he had been the “fall guy” when separate and much more serious claims about the organization emerged.
These included allegations of rape, sexual harassment and drug abuse against some staff – in which Danker was not involved.
That wider crisis caused an exodus of some of the CBI’s biggest corporate members, from insurance giant Aviva to retail group John Lewis, and threatened its existence.
Meanwhile, it degenerated into a war of words with Danker, who said shortly after his dismissal: ‘Not only did they just throw me under the bus, they ran me over backwards. My reputation has been completely destroyed.”
At the time, he said of the charges against him: “The CBI was aware of all these matters and never raised them as a disciplinary matter with me until suddenly they all became grounds for summary dismissal.”
Brian McBride, the organization’s then-president, said during the argument that year that Danker’s description of events had been “selective.”
And McBride told the BBC that Danker was ‘welcome to take his case to an employment tribunal or the tribunal if he believes he has been abused’.
Danker hired leading employment lawyer Bruce Carr KC – author of a 2014 government-commissioned review of industrial law – to take on his case.
A CBI spokesperson confirmed yesterday that it had resolved the legal action taken by Danker against the company after his dismissal.
The spokesperson said: ‘The CBI board has reached an undisclosed settlement with Mr Danker.’
Danker declined to comment.
The announcement comes as the CBI attempts to restore its fortunes under new president Rupert Soames, a prominent City figure and former chief executive of outsourcing giant Serco.