Employment law stories in the news – 05.07.2021 to 11.07.2021

In the latest of our series of posts on employment law stories in the news, we take a look at ten employment law-related stories that made headlines between 5 July 2021 and 11 July 2021
- Gay BBC Sports pundit wins sex harassment claim after male colleagues at her previous Network Rail job taunted her saying she was only a lesbian because she’d ‘never had a real man’ – A gay BBC Sport pundit has won a sex harassment claim after male colleagues at a previous job said she was only a lesbian because she had ‘never had a real man’ (The Daily Mail)
- Worker wins £36,000 after being called ‘b*nder’ in months of homophobic abuse – A gay energy worker has won more than £35,000 after getting being called a “f**ing bnder” at work and being abused constantly (The Mirror)
- Sainsbury’s worker unfairly sacked after cuddly toy sparked race row, tribunal rules – A supermarket worker was unfairly sacked from her 28-year career after a cuddly toy sparked accusations of racism, an employment tribunal has ruled (The Independent)
- Employee, 60, wins £13,000 unfair dismissal payout after headbutting multi-millionaire chairman of League Two football club Colchester United – A club worker has won a £13,000 unfair dismissal payout after headbutting a multi-millionaire football chairman following a foul-mouthed argument between the pair (The Daily Mail)
- Ex-JPMorgan trader wins unfair dismissal case over alleged spoofing – A former JPMorgan trader was unfairly dismissed after the US bank reactivated an internal probe into a spoofing allegation, a London employment tribunal has ruled (The Financial Times)
- Tribunal rules ex-Hartlepool MP subjected worker to unwanted sexual conduct – An employment tribunal has ruled that the former Hartlepool MP Mike Hill breached the Equality Act by subjecting a parliamentary worker to unwanted sexual conduct on a number of occasions (ITV)
- Home Office spent £370,000 on settling top civil servant’s Patel bullying claim – The Home Office spent more than £370,000 to settle a top civil servant’s tribunal claim after he quit amid allegations of Priti Patel’s bullying, accounts confirm (The Evening Standard)
- National Trust told to pay almost £50,000 to employee it discriminated against – A former gardener at a National Trust property has been awarded nearly £50,000 in compensation for unfair dismissal, harassment and discrimination. A tribunal ruling published this week shows that employment judges were unanimous in their decision that Claire Bryant was constructively unfairly dismissed by the charity (Third Sector)
- Nursery worker wins £5,000 after bosses unfairly fired her for teaching children to kick her colleague and call her ‘smelly’ – A senior nursery worker has been awarded £5,000 by an employment tribunal after she was sacked for teaching children to kick her colleague and call her ‘smelly’ (The Daily Mail)
- Firm that dismissed pregnant trainee cleared of discrimination – A criminal defence firm has been cleared of discrimination allegations after telling a trainee solicitor she was being let go three weeks after she said she was pregnant (The Law Society Gazette)