Employment law cases in the news – 04.07.2016 to 10.07.2016
In the latest of our series of posts on employment law cases in the news, we take a look at ten employment law cases that have made headlines between 4 July and 10 July 2016
- Illegal working civil penalties: Home Office targets larger firms – In the second half of 2015 alone, the Home Office issued 1,217 illegal working civil penalties to businesses, equating to £21.6 million in fines. Civil penalties have now become a prized revenue stream for the Home Office (Personnel Today)
- Construction worker crushed by excavator on school demolition site – A construction company was sentenced today after a worker suffered crush injuries when he was hit and then run over by an excavator. Complete Demolition Ltd had been contracted to demolish a school on the site at Stanney Lane, Ellesmere Port to make way for a new leisure centre when the incident occurred (HSE)
- Feud between billionaire founder of Phones 4u and his glamorous protege reaches High Court after she is accused of faking £33,000 expenses claim – Jon Caudwell, the former of Phones 4u, is engaged in a legal fight with a partner at the wealth management fund that he co-founded (The Daily Mail)
- Smoking breaks part of reason Bridgnorth mechanic lost his job, tribunal told – Unauthorised smoking breaks contributed to a mechanic losing his job with a Bridgnorth firm specialising in classic cars, a tribunal has heard. Anthony Hunt told a during an employment tribunal in Birmingham he felt “bullied” after being dismissed from Classic Motor Cars Ltd on the Stanmore Industrial Estate (The Shropshire Star)
- Worker dies at Portsmouth ship scrapping yard – A ship building and repair company, Diverse Ventures,has been fined following the death of a worker who was hit by a mooring rope. Hove Crown Court heard that 50-year-old Paul Hudghton died after being hit by a rope being used to pull the jib of a small Tori crane back into position at Tipner Wharf, Portsmouth (HSE)
- Third Ex-Citigroup Trader Wins Unfair Dismissal Lawsuit – A fired Citigroup Inc. currency trader, who claimed his bosses made him a scapegoat for the foreign exchange market-manipulation scandal, said he won a ruling that he was unfairly dismissed (Bloomberg)
- Glasgow Life slated over the sacking of five managers amid allegations of a Commonwealth Games overtime scam – Scotland’s largest arts and leisure spin-off has been damned over its wrongful sacking of five managers amid allegations of a Commonwealth Games overtime scam (The Herald Scotland)
- Co-op employee who lost job when Coventry store shut loses unfair dismissal claim – A warehouse worker who lost his job with dozens of others after Coventry’s Co-op store shut up shop last year has lost a legal claim for unfair dismissal. The test case at Birmingham Employment Tribunal was brought by Ashwin Rathod, of Radford, and its failure will come as a blow to other former Co-op employees who are understood to have similar claims in the pipeline (The Coventry Telegraph)
- Ex-Leeds United welfare officer Lucy Ward wins £132,000 payout – Leeds United’s former welfare officer has been awarded more than £132,000 in an unfair dismissal and sex discrimination case. Lucy Ward will get £127,229 for sex discrimination and a further £5,525 in respect of unfair dismissal, after leaving Elland Road in July 2015 (BBC)