Santander Uk Risks Business Opportunities
Santander UK has been demonstrating an astonishing level of appetite for risking
alienating customers in a landmark racial discrimination situation that has made UK legal history on several accounts.
Santander UK is the UK bank formerly known as Abbey National. In 2004, it was purchased by Emilio Botin's Banco Santander Group. Prior to the take-over, Abbey National was a constituent of the UK's FTSE 100 Index. On 11 January 2010, Abbey National's name was changed to Santander UK. Both Emilio Botin and Lewis Hamilton, the Formula 1 racing driver, launched the Santander UK name together in London.
In April 2006, while the bank was still known as Abbey National, it dismissed an employee, Balbinder Chagger, of Indian descent, apparently for reasons of redundancy driven by cost-cutting requirements. Balbinder Chagger, on the other hand, alleged that the real reason behind his dismissal was race discrimination and that the redundancy was a sham exercise to target and remove him.
A Tribunal investigated the allegations and concluded that Santander UK had been motivated by race and had used a redundancy exercise to target Mr Chagger for dismissal.
To remedy the effects of Santander UK's unlawful racially discriminating conduct, the Tribunal ordered Santander UK to re-employ Mr Chagger. However, Santander UK refused to comply with the Tribunal's order, asserting reasons that the Tribunal ruled as being unsatisfactory.
In order to lessen on himself the impact of Santander UK's unlawful conduct, Mr Chagger applied for a number of other jobs at Santander UK itself. Santander UK, however, rejected all his applications. Mr Chagger also offered to work for Santander UK voluntarily, without pay, in a number of its departments in order to increase his chances of employment elsewhere. Santander UK, however, refused all his offers.
In 2007, the Tribunal concluded that the impact of Santander UK's racially discriminating conduct was that it had cost Mr Chagger his career at Santander UK itself, and also his future career in the financial services sector. The Tribunal proceeded to order Santander UK to pay Mr Chagger the record-breaking 2.8 million compensation to cover the loss it had caused him.
Corporate values and corporate behaviours seem to be important in today's highly competitive and dynamic markets. Some customers may be deterred if they perceive the corporation does not care about them or is failing to reflect their values. This can lead to reduced business opportunities and reduced market share for the corporation. In order to safeguard themselves from such dangers, many corporations resolve risky matters privately, thus preventing them ever reaching the public domain. Santander UK's decision not to have resolved the matter privately seems to imply an astonishingly high level of appetite for risking alienating customers.
After a failed appeal in 2008 to a higher-level Tribunal (that confirmed the original Tribunal's conclusion that Santander UK had racially discriminated against Mr Chagger), Santander UK seems now to have conceded that it had discriminated against Mr Chagger.
However, despite having caused Balbinder Chagger to lose his career, Santander UK now appears to be pursuing publicly open legal proceedings concerned solely with reducing the 2.8 million amount of loss the Tribunal calculated Santander UK's racially discriminating conduct had caused Mr Chagger.
by: Simon King
How to Build a Debt Negotiation Business in a High Unemployment Economy Looking For Business Credit And Small Business Finance Same Day Payday Loans – Collect Simple Cash at Your Door Debt Negotiation and Credit Improvement Services - Best Home Based Business to Start in 2010 Unsecured Loans - Cash without Guarantee Business voip for the business purposes Cheap Payday Loans - Avail Fast Cash Low Cost Unsecured Loans – Cash Support with Burden Free Repayment Installment Loans- Cash Available Without Burden Strategy Gets Small Businesses Going Same Day Cash Today- No Further Delay Now Cash advance: Speedy finance to overcome sudden emergencies Need Cash Loans- Get Pleasure from Rapid Cash without Bother