Former Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy will receive "the majority of his unpaid salary" from the Premier League club, as ruled by a judge. Mendy, a French international who faced charges of rape and sexual assault in August 2021, took legal action against City for approximately £11 million in unpaid wages after his suspension without pay from September 2021 until his departure in June 2023.
In 2022, Mendy was acquitted of several rape and attempted rape charges. Judge Joanne Dunlop ruled that City was within its rights to withhold Mendy’s salary for the five months he was in custody but not for the remaining time during which he was under a Football Association suspension. The ruling highlighted that Mendy’s contract did not include provisions allowing the club to withhold wages due to FA suspensions or bail conditions that prevented him from fulfilling his duties.
"The result of this decision is that Mr. Mendy will be entitled to receive the majority of his unpaid salary, although not all of it," the summary judgment read. Mendy’s annual salary was around £6 million.
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Judge Dunlop stated, "I found that Mr. Mendy was 'ready and willing' to work during the non-custody periods and was prevented from doing so by impediments (the FA suspension and bail conditions) that were unavoidable on his part."
The exact amount Mendy will receive will be determined either through agreement between the two parties or in a future hearing.
Mendy, who joined City from Monaco for £52 million in 2017 and won the Premier League in 2018, 2019, and 2021, made his final appearance for the club on August 15, 2021. He was held in custody for five months before being released on bail in January 2022, with his case going to trial later that year. Mendy was cleared of multiple charges in January 2023 and subsequently of further charges in July 2023. He now plays for the French club Lorient.
