A woman who claimed the British Library was too noisy to work in has reportedly won £7,500 in an employment tribunal. Lidia Kogut sued the King’s Cross institution for “failing to make reasonable adjustments” and won her case this week, according to the Daily Mail. The tribunal heard that the library, her employer, failed to provide her with a quieter workstation or offer an alternative role. The ruling concludes a long-running case, which the British Library had attempted to have dismissed in 2023.
Employment judge Richard Nicolle said: “Ms Kogut’s claim that the [British Library] failed to make a reasonable adjustment to provide her with a quiet location within its premises succeeds in accordance with... the Equality Act. “Or, alternatively, that it failed to move her to a quiet office temporarily until a permanent suitable alternative role was identified.”. The British Library has not commented.
The national library of the United Kingdom is home to the second largest collection of books, periodicals, journals and sound recordings in the world. The Euston Road institution houses every book printed in Britain and a large number of publications from overseas. As well as 14 million books, it also has millions of sound recordings and audio scores. Last year the library was the victim of a ransomware attack.
