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

  1. 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)
  2. 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)
  3. 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)
  4. 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)
  5. 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)
  6. 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)
  7. 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)
  8. 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)
  9. 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)
  10. 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)