Employment law cases in the news – 09.05.2016 to 15.05.2016
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 made headlines between 9 May and 16 May 2016
- Employer withdrew job offer due to sickness absence – An employment tribunal held that a nurse was the victim of discrimination arising from disability, after her prospective employer withdrew a job offer after seeing a record of previous absence (Personnel Today)
- Pilot awarded £59,000 after being unfairly dismissed – A pilot has secured what is thought to the biggest-ever compensation award from a Manx employment tribunal after winning his claim for unfair dismissal. John Kayter Bean was awarded just under £60,000 after winning his case against the Private Jet Company (Isle of Man Today)
- Firefighter who accused the service of racism drops his claims – Former firefighter Michaele Lloyd has dropped his claims he was targeted by bosses because he is of mixed race . The 36-year-old had said he was picked on throughout his training and employment and that colleagues used racist terms in conversations (Wales Online)
- Top Brighton doctor fighting sacking over ‘racist’ remarks – A doctor is fighting his dismissal from his job over allegedly racist remarks. Peter Hale was sacked as a consultant from the Royal Sussex University Hospital in January last year following comments about doctors on his team (The Argus)
- Woman who blogged about pregnancy takes unfair dismissal case – A woman who was dismissed from her job with a wedding planning website after she wrote blog posts about her pregnancy for a website set up by her husband has taken an unfair dismissal case against the firm. Deirdre Zaidan took the case against Weddingsonline.ie Ltd before an Employment Appeals Tribunal at the Workplace Relations Commission in Dublin on Wednesday (The Irish Times)
- Worker wins tribunal payout despite missing work for months – because he was in jail – A baker firm has been ordered to hand £650 over to an employee who failed to turn up for work for months because he was in jail (Herald Scotland)
- Court of Appeal restores decision to dismiss interpreters’ discrimination claims – In Secretary of State for Justice v Windle and anor, the Court of Appeal has held that the EAT erred when overturning an employment tribunal’s decision to dismiss discrimination claims brought by two court interpreters who performed services for the HM Courts and Tribunals Services (HMCTS) on a case-by-case basis (ELA)
- Police lawyer leaked ‘affair’ details to impress colleagues, tribunal told – A former Northumbria police lawyer has been accused by a senior police officer of deliberately leaking details of another officer’s alleged affair. Denise Aubrey, a former head of legal services for the force, is suing for unfair dismissal after being sacked for gross misconduct in 2014 (The Guardian)
- Blacklisted workers win £10m payout from construction firms – About £10m will be paid in compensation to more than 250 building workers who were “blacklisted” by some of Britain’s biggest construction firms under a settlement to be announced on Monday (The Guardian)
- Sex discrimination victory for worker ‘forced into affair with boss’ – A former employee of software giant Wipro has won a wide-ranging sex discrimination case that included claims that she was forced into an affair with a senior leader. Shreya Ukil worked for the technology services business for around a decade in sales and market development roles. She alleged that she was subjected to a “deeply predatory, misogynistic culture” and had claimed £1.2 million in damages (CIPD)