• 28-year-old to consider her options
Jess Varnish, the former Great Britain track cyclist, has lost her landmark employment case against British Cycling and UK Sport which had threatened to overhaul funding for Olympic athletes. She began legal proceedings after claiming she was dropped from the British Cycling squad for the 2016 Rio Olympics in retaliation for criticising her coaches. She argued that she was in effect an employee of both British Cycling and UK Sport and therefore should be subject to certain protections under law – including sick pay, a pension and the right to sue for unfair dismissal.
However, at a tribunal in Manchester last month British Cycling and UK Sport claimed national lottery funding for athletes is more akin to a university grant and therefore should not be subject to the same employment rights.
Written by Sean Ingle
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jan/16/jess-varnish-employment-tribunal-british-cycling-uk-sport under the title “Jess Varnish loses employment tribunal against British Cycling and UK Sport”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
