Employment law stories in the news – 30.09.2013 to 06.10.2013

hmctsIn the latest of our series on employment law stories in the news, we take a look at some of the employment law-related stories that have hit the news in the last week. This includes a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights on the dismissal of an employee with HIV, a “landmark” win in the Employment Tribunal for two Muslim employees at Tesco and a former bank director settling a victimization claim with Commerzbank

  1. Dismissal of HIV-positi​ve employee in response to workforce pressure breached human rights – In IB v Greece, the European Court of Human Rights has found a breach of Article 8 (right to a private life) taken together with Article 14 (prohibition on discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights in the case of an HIV-positive employee who was dismissed in response to pressure from his colleagues (ELA)
  2. Muslim employees in landmark win on religious discrimination – Two Muslim men working for Tesco have won a case of religious discrimination after having access to the on-site prayer room restricted (The National Secular Society)
  3. Gay discrimination in entertainment industry has not gone away, finds survey – A wide-ranging study by the Screen Actors Guild suggests that homophobic comments are common, and other forms of job discrimination are still prevalent (The Guardian)
  4. Former bank director settles victimisation claim – Commerzbank has avoided more red faces in court after settling a £13 million victimisation claim at the eleventh hour. The German lender struck a deal yesterday with Latifa Bouabdillah, 33, a former director, only hours before an employment tribunal hearing was due to determine how much compensation she should receive (The Times)
  5. Ex-Monmouthshire council officer offered new post after redundancy but still had pay-off two years later – A former senior officer at Monmouthshire council was offered a new job at the authority after his post was made redundant but still collected a five-figure redundancy pay-off two years later, documents revealed (The South Wales Argus)
  6. Care whistleblower in ‘bullying’ claim loses bid for £185k – A health worker at Southend Hospital failed in her attempt to sue for damages after claiming she was bullied for whistleblowing. Healthcare assistant Gillian Austin, 58, took her fight to East London Employment Tribunal Service for £185,000 in damages, alleging she was subjected to six months of victimisation (The Echo)
  7. ENRC legal battle with ex-director Sir Paul Judge escalates – A legal fight between Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation and Sir Paul Judge has escalated with the mining group producing what it says is a transcript of its former director leaking information (The Financial Times)
  8. Birmingham City Council to settle 11,000 equal pay claims – Birmingham City Council and the joint trade unions have reached an agreement to settle equal pay claims brought mainly by female employees who missed out on bonuses (BBC)
  9. McCririck ‘ageism’ tribunal begins – The 73-year-old is taking former employer Channel 4 and TV production company IMG Media Limited to a tribunal, alleging his sacking last year was motivated by age discrimination (Evening Standard)
  10. Farm inspector sacked after anti-cull tweets – A government farm inspector who tweeted critical comments about the badger cull has been sacked after the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) complained to ministers about her views (The Sunday Times)