Employment law stories in the news this week – 03.02.2014 to 09.02.2014
In the latest of our series of posts on employment law stories in the news this week, we take a look at ten employment law stories that have made the news between 3 February and 9 February 2014. This includes compensation for a policeman who damaged a pensioner’s car, criticism from Members of Parliament over payoffs to former BBC executives, and a Redditch recycling firm that has been fined £100,000 after the death of a worker
- Policeman who smashed up pensioner’s car receives £400,000 compensation – Pc Mike Baillon, who quit his job after becoming the butt of jokes from fellow officers over a YouTube video of him battering the Range Rover of a 74-year-old driver, awarded more than £400,000 compensation (The Telegraph)
- MPs scrutinise Fincham’s BBC payoff – A group of MPs has called on the BBC to provide more answers about the £500,000 payoff former BBC1 boss Peter Fincham received in 2007 (Broadcast Now)
- Redditch recycling firm fined £100,000 for worker’s death – A Redditch recycling company has been sentenced for safety failings after a worker was killed by a bale of waste weighing more than a tonne. Kenneth Swaby, 43, from Canvey Island, Essex, was struck by the falling bale as he walked past a stack of them, some five metres high, at R&S Recycling Ltd in Beoley on 11 February 2011 (HSE)
- Respected teacher takes school to tribunal – A Studley school is opposing legal claims for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination by a former teacher who is alleged to have been involved in issues with the school’s head (Redditch & Alcester Advertiser)
- Boys will be boys: Public school headmaster’s ‘generous view of pupils who skinned live cats and wrapped a younger pupil in duct tape before beating him with a belt’ – The head of a £30,000-a-year public school believed ‘boys would be boys’ after four pupils beat a schoolmate with a belt and another filmed himself skinning live cats, a whistleblower has claimed (The Daily Mail)
- Forcing police officers to retire after 30 years’ service is unlawful, tribunal rules – An employment tribunal has ruled that a measure used to force police officers to retire after 30 years’ service is unlawful and amounts to age discrimination (The Guardian)
- Union loses tribunal fees battle – A trade union has lost a High Court action over an order which imposed fees for the first time on workers wanting to bring tribunal proceedings against their employers (The Courier)
- Claimant faces record costs after tribunal – An employment tribunal has ordered a claimant who unsuccessfully took a local authority to tribunal to pay record costs for an individual (The Law Society Gazette)
- New Health and Work Service to get long-term sick back to work – People off sick for more than four weeks are to be offered advice to get them back to work more quickly under a scheme being set up by the government (BBC)
- Bullying fears at Liverpool health trust – A damning report has revealed concerns about a “blame culture” at a Liverpool health trust. Health watchdog the Care Quality Commission made an unannounced inspection of Liverpool Community Health NHS Trust’s intermediate care service in November and December (The Liverpool Echo)