Employment Tribunal cases in the news – 26.05.2014 to 02.06.2014

MoJIn the latest of our series of posts on Employment Tribunal cases in the news, we take a look at ten employment tribunal cases that have made the news between 26 May and 2 June 2014.

  1. Hatton road safety firm pays out £42,000 – A struggling Hatton firm which provides help to thousands of motorcyclists in the Midlands has been told to pay three former employees more than £42,000 following their resignations. MAG (UK) Ltd of Oakslade Station Road, Hatton, near Warwick, was formed in 1973 to provide help and advice about road safety and anti-thefts to thousands of motorcyclists in return for subscriptions (Kenilworth Weekly News)
  2. Ex-RBS Banker in Libor Probe Sues for Race Discrimination – Jezri Mohideen, a former Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS) manager who was fired during its investigation into Libor-rigging, sued the lender for racial discrimination and unfair dismissal (Bloomberg)
  3. PA sacked by her boss after wife found out about their affair awarded £35,000 damages – A personal assistant sacked from her job at a successful property company by her boss after his wife found out about their affair has been awarded nearly £35,000 in damages (The Telegraph)
  4. Teaching union threatens Liverpool Council with tribunal over secondary school closure – A leading teaching union warned it was prepared to take Liverpool council to an employment tribunal over its handling of the closure of a Liverpool secondary school. In March the council’s cabinet backed a recommendation by city education chiefs to axe Speke’s Parklands School at the end of August (The Liverpool Echo)
  5. GP whistleblowers should be protected from ‘reprisals’, employment tribunal finds – A court has cleared NHS managers of failing to protect a whistleblowing GP – but said a similar case could be upheld in the future, giving greater protection for GPs who blow the whistle on their colleagues (Pulse Today)
  6. Former Studley teacher wins unfair dismissal claim – A former Studley school teacher who alleged that a woman colleague placed her leg over his in the staff room has won a legal claim for unfair dismissal. But Birmingham Employment Tribunal rejected the other legal claims from Clive Burbage for disability discrimination, unpaid wages and detriment (The Redditch & Alcester Advertiser)
  7. Love rat caught ‘having sex with female colleague’ after pregnant girlfriend bugged computer – A pregnant boss unmasked her boyfriend as a love-rat by bugging his office computer, a tribunal has heard. The Sunday People reports a tape caught him ­having sex at work with a female colleague (The Irish Mirror)
  8. Muslim boss who racially abused Sikh employee is told to pay him £18k -An Indian Sikh who was degraded and racially abused by his Muslim boss and colleagues has been awarded £18,000 at an employment tribunal. Paramjit Singh, a forecourt cleaner at a garage in Greenock, was called a “lazy low-caste Sikh” and forced to repeatedly carry out demeaning tasks (Herald Scotland)
  9. Tour guide loses €50,000 award for unfair dismissal after appeal – A tour guide’s €50,000 award for unfair dismissal has been overturned by the High Court after a judge found she was not an employee of but an independent contractor to a travel company (The Irish Independent)
  10. Marks & Spencer found to have harassed and victimised female worker who contracted HIV after being allegedly raped by a colleague at a staff party – A female employee was harassed and victimised by Marks & Spencer after she was allegedly raped by a colleague at a works party and contracted HIV, an employment tribunal has ruled. Charmaine Wakelin, 42, said at the time of the alleged attack she was working as a personal assistant at the retail giant’s head office in north west London (The Mail Online)