Presenter Samira Ahmed launches court battle against BBC over ‘unequal pay’

Top BBC presenter Samira Ahmed is dragging the broadcaster to court over claims she was paid less than her male colleagues for doing similar work, according to the British media reports.

It is expected to be the first of a string of similar cases by female staff members against the BBC management, says the Guardian which first reported the legal dispute.

“Court listings seen by the Guardian show that Ahmed’s case is due to be heard over three days from next Monday at an employment tribunal in central London, over an alleged “failure to provide equal pay for equal value work” under the Equal Pay Act,” the paper said.

The 51-year old presents Newswatch on BBC One and BBC News and Radio 4’s Front Row and was a Channel 4 News presenter.

She started her career at the BBC in the 1990s and has been a regular on the broadcaster in recent years. Newswatch holds the corporation to account for its editorial decisions, while her work on Front Row has made her a regular part of Radio 4’s arts coverage.

The action will be hugely embarrassing for the BBC, which has faced massive controversy over its gender pay gap in recent years.

The corporation’s China editor Carrie Gracie quit her role last year after complaining that male colleagues were paid more than her. There followed months of turmoil at the broadcaster over concerns that women’s salaries were less than men’s.

The legal dispute could prove to be a watershed moment in a gender pay gap controversy that has engulfed the broadcaster in recent months.

It will also deal a fresh blow to the corporation, which is still reeling from a controversy around its handling of an impartiality complaint against Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty.