Earlier this month, writer, performer and theatremaker Athena Stevens reached a settlement in her long-running legal action against Shakespeare’s Globe.
Athena made six claims relating to her time at The Globe from 2018-21, comprising discrimination arising from disability, a failure to make reasonable adjustments, harassment related to disability, harassment related to sex, victimisation, and detriment on the grounds of having made a protected disclosure.
Athena is a founder member of FMTW, and as a group we have been following her case closely, not only because of the personal connection involved, but also because of the issues raised regarding freelancers and employment law. It has been a long and painful legal process, and the financial, mental and emotional cost to Athena has been immense.
The arduous reality of legal action, and the gargantuan inequality between an individual and an organisation in any situation like this, means that the pressure on freelancers to keep quiet, keep their heads down and acquiesce remains a fundamental systemic issue in the theatre industry. Progress can only be made where there is a serious and genuine will from industry leaders to fix a broken system.
As part of the settlement, Athena and The Globe released a joint statement, which you can read here.
Part of the statement announces that “Athena and The Globe both agree and believe in the importance of disabled staff and freelancers and seek continuous improvement of conditions that support an inclusive workplace. With this in mind, and notwithstanding its confidence in existing working practices, The Globe will commission an independent review assessing accessibility and safeguarding policies, procedures and their interrelationship. Athena will participate by giving evidence as part of the review.”
The process and findings of that independent review will continue to be of keen interest to freelancers across the industry. This is not the first time in recent history that The Globe has made headlines on disability issues for the wrong reasons, and it is to be hoped that a comprehensive, open and transparent examination of the principles, policies, and attitudes involved will be the first steps to making improvements across the industry.
Organisations, and those who lead them, need to be honest with themselves about where they’ve fallen short, and provide clarity about the lessons learned.
You can read more about the details of Athena’s case via the reports from The Stage over the last few years, and Athena’s forthcoming book, due for publication this June, will shed more light on the details of her own arduous journey.
Freelancers will also note that Athena’s recourse to employment law in its existing form was only possible because The Globe eventually conceded that her contract with them came under Worker status, rather than being on a self-employed basis as they had initially claimed. Had that claim been approved by the court, the case would have collapsed.
It’s a sobering reminder that freelancers remain second-class citizens under the law as it stands, and further underlines the urgency with which the Government’s promise of legislative action to help the self-employed needs to arrive.
