Jonas Gutierrez issues Employment Tribunal disability discrimination claim against Newcastle United

A professional footballer who formerly played for a Premier League team has issued proceedings for discrimination after his former club failed to renew his contract last year.

Jonas Gutierrez issued his disability discrimination claim in the Employment Tribunal against his former club Newcastle United FC after he claimed that he had been treated detrimentally because he had suffered from cancer.

Gutierrez, 32, was signed by Newcastle United in 2008. He was first diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2013 and sought treatment, recovering successfully from from the condition in November 2013 after surgery. However, upon his return to the club he was informed that he should find a new club and was eventually loaned to Norwich City.

The Argentina international suffered a relapse of testicular cancer in summer 2014 and underwent a course of chemotherapy in Argentina, beating the cancer again and returning to Newcastle in December 2014.

Gutierrez helped Newcastle to avoid relegation from the Premier League with a goal in a 2-0 win over West Ham on the final day of the 2014/15 season – one of only 10 appearances he made for Newcastle after his initial diagnosis in 2013. However, he was released in May 2015 in a telephone conversation with the then-caretaker manager of the club, John Carver.

After being released from his Newcastle United contract Gutierrez gave an interview to the BBC in which he claimed that the club “don’t care” about him, and had previously stated to the media that he would not be able to forgive the club hierarchy for the manner in which he had been treated.

Chris Hadrill, a specialist employment solicitor at Redmans, commented on the case: “Although the case has clearly been issued, little is known about it at the moment apart from the fact that Mr Gutierrez is claiming for some form of disability discrimination. We will have to wait and see what details emerge from the claim in the future.”

The Employment Tribunal claim continues.