UK: Law firm unfairly axed male lawyer because it feared discrimation claim if it got rid of his pregnant colleague

Story here. Excerpt:

'A male lawyer was wrongfully sacked because his bosses feared they would be sued if they fired his female colleague while she was on maternity leave.

In a rare instance of a man claiming sex discrimination, John de Belin won £123,000 in damages after one of Britain's biggest law firms 'deprived him of his livelihood'.

Mr de Belin, 45, was one of two associates facing redundancy from Eversheds' property division in Leeds. The other was Angela Reinholz, 40.

To decide who would be sacked, the firm undertook an assessment of both Mr de Belin's and Mrs Reinholz's abilities, including financial performance, discipline history and absence records.

Mr de Belin was fired in February 2009 after losing by just half a point, scoring 27 out of 39 in the exercise against Mrs Reinholz's 27.5.

But he later learned that the test score had been 'unfairly inflated' to the advantage of his female colleague.

He also discovered that Mrs Reinholz was given the maximum possible score for her ability to swiftly secure 'lock-up' payments from clients - even though she was at home on maternity leave during the period of time she was being assessed.

The Leeds employment tribunal ruled that this effectively tipped the balance in her favour and Mr de Belin lost out.'