Employment Tribunal cases in the news this week – 02.09.2013 to 08.09.2013

hmctsA round-up of links to stories about employment tribunal rulings reported in the week beginning 2 September2013, including a social worker who has lost her claims for discrimination against Dundee City Council, the latest round in a battle over equal pay and a man who has been convicted after assaulting an Employment Judge.

  1. Social worker loses discrimination claim against Dundee City Council – A Dundee social worker has lost her claim of disability discrimination and harassment against the city council after an Employment Judge found that her claim of disability discrimination had no reasonable prospect of success and her claim for harassment was out of time (The Courier)
  2. Council facing £100m bill as it agrees to talks in equal pay row – Labour-run South Lanarkshire, which lost a related case at the UK Supreme Court, has caved in to growing pressure and agreed to three months of discussions, rather than resume Employment Tribunal hearings in Glasgow next month. It is believed that the Council is facing a record equal-pay settlement of £100 million after years of resisting claims from 3,000 female staff
  3. Whistleblower speaks out over botched sacking of ‘talented nurse’ at Whittington Hospital – Andrea Guy was dismissed from the hospital in 2009 for allegedly administering chemotherapy to patients without being qualified to do so, and adding her name to a special register which lists nurses who are permitted to give the cancer treatment. An employment tribunal upheld the hospital’s decision to dismiss, but it has now emerged that the evidence on which the case was based was “fraudulent or incorrect”, according to a senior doctor who worked at the hospital (Ham High Broadway)
  4. Judge targeted by Slough man after failed employment tribunal – A man who threatened a judge with a meat cleaver in an employment tribunal and later assaulted him has been convicted again after breaching a restraining order. Mohammed Choudhary, 35, was found to have breached the order by writing to judge Russell Hardwick. The jury at Reading Crown Court heard Choudhary blamed the judge for him losing his job (Get Reading)
  5. Top Belfast publican groped gay employee’s groin and asked lesbian manager for sex – A Belfast publican groped a gay male employee’s groin and asked a young lesbian manager for sex, an Employment Tribunal has been told. He has subsequently been ordered to pay compensation to the employees (The Belfast Telegraph)
  6. Woman takes case against B&Q Ireland for sexual harassment and intimidation – A woman who was given the maximum award of two years’ salary for sexual harassment by the Equality Tribunal is taking a High Court case for damages against her former employer, B&Q Ireland. In the tribunal judgment published this week, the now 22-year-old was awarded almost €30,000 arising out of her treatment by a supervisor at the company’s store in Naas, Co Kildare. Her employer was not identified in the ruling but The Irish Times has established its identity (The Irish Times)