The 51-year-old presenter said she was owed £700,000 in back pay and BBC insiders said that they now expect an avalanche of female employees to come forward with similar claims. Ms Ahmed told an employment tribunal the £440 per episode she was paid on Newswatch was unfair compared with Jeremy Vine’s £3,000 for Points Of View – a show similar in length and content. The unanimous judgment found the BBC had failed to prove the pay gap wasn’t because of sex discrimination.
Women’s rights activists called the ruling “damning” and demanded new laws to ensure equal and transparent pay.
To justify the huge pay gap, the BBC said presenting Points Of View relied upon Vine’s ability to have a “glint in his eye” and to be “cheeky”.
But Judge Harjit Grewal dismissed the argument, stating: “We had difficulty in understanding what the respondent meant by a ‘glint in the eye’ and how that translated into a ‘skill’ or ‘experience’ to do a job.” A light-hearted tone, she added, would primarily be achieved by the style of scriptwriting.
The judgment observed: “The difference in this pay case is striking.” Afterwards Ms Ahmed thanked her legal team and those who had supported her.
She said: “No woman wants to have to take action against their own employer. I love working for the BBC. I’m glad it’s resolved.”
Following the verdict, the broadcaster said that it would “consider this judgment carefully” and was “committed to equality and equal pay”.
However, a statement it released continued to deny there had been sexual discrimination against Ms Ahmed.
The BBC said: “We have always believed that the pay of Samira and Jeremy Vine was not determined by their gender.
“Presenters – female as well as male – had always been paid more on Points Of View.”
In July 2017 the BBC published the salaries of its highest earners under the terms of its new Royal Charter, which revealed that only one in three on the list of talent earning more than £150,000 were women.
Damningly, all the top earners were men.
At least a dozen long-running cases over pay at the BBC are understood to be still active.
Sam Smethers, chief executive of The Fawcett Society called for legislation to enforce transparency over pay and conditions. She said: “Fifty years on from the Equal Pay Act, women are still being routinely undervalued and being paid unequally.
“Most women either don’t know what their colleagues earn or know that men are being paid more for doing the same job.
“We urgently need to change the law.”