Employment law stories in the news this week – 21.10.2013 to 27.10.2013

In the latest of our series on employment law stories in the news this week, we take a look at a number of employment law-related cases that have made the news since 21 October 2013. This includes the Ministry of Justice being fined over a data protection breach, a patient being made redundant whilst still in hospital bed and a Union challenge to Employment Tribunal fees in the High Court

  1. Ministry fined after Cardiff prisoner details emailed to families – The Ministry of Justice has been fined £140,000 after the details of more than 1,000 inmates at Cardiff prison were emailed to three prisoners’ families (BBC)
  2. ‘British Gas sacked me while I was lying in a hospital bed’: Heart patient was visited by bosses so they could hand him redundancy notice – Recovering in hospital from a heart operation, Nigel Winkley assumed the visit from two of his bosses was to bring him good wishes. Instead, the pair delivered a PowerPoint presentation that ended with bombshell news…he was sacked (The Mail Online)
  3. Nursery teacher banned from speaking Polish at work awarded £7,000 – A nursery school teacher who was banned from speaking Polish at work has won a £7,000 payout for harassment (The Evening Standard)
  4. Union battles employment tribunal fees in High Court – Campaigners went to the High Court on 22 October 2013 in a bid to overturn the government’s introduction of employment tribunal fees (The Law Society Gazette)
  5. Boris Johnson pays out £300,000 to staff in U-turn over ‘golden goodbyes’ – Boris Johnson paid out “golden goodbyes” totalling more than £300,000 to senior staff who left his team after his 2012 mayoral election victory, it emerged today (The Evening Standard)
  6. Existence of third blacklist confirmed – A former senior executive at ACAS has been implicated in the blacklisting scandal following new evidence sent in a letter to the Scottish Affairs Committee (SAC) by the Information Commissioners’ Office (ICO) (The Institute of Employment Rights)
  7. Barclays aims to dodge EU bank bonus cap with new top-up payments to staff – Barclays is working on ways to get around around the European Union’s cap on bonuses by handing its top bankers new payments to top up perceived shortfalls caused by politicians’ attempts to clamp down on escalating City rewards (The Guardian)
  8. Shopping mall security expert who was spied on by bosses using CCTV he oversaw is handed £38,000 compensation payout – A security expert has been handed £38,000 in compensation after his bosses used the CCTV system he ran to spy on him before giving him the sack, a tribunal has ruled (The Mail Online)