Employment tribunal cases in the news this week – 05.05.2014 to 11.05.2014

In the latest of our series of posts on employment tribunal cases in the news this week, we take a look at 10 employment tribunal cases that have made the news between 5 May and 11 May 2014.

  1. Council is ‘stalling’ on equal pay settlements – Birmingham City Council has been accused of stalling after it emerged that thousands of former and current staff could be waiting until November 2015 for equal pay settlements. Last year the council halted an employment tribunal and agreed to settle some 11,000 claims from staff who had been underpaid (The Birmingham Post)
  2. BBC executive was ‘stitched up’ over £100m DMI failure, employment tribunal told – The BBC executive in charge of a botched technology project that cost the licence fee payer nearly £100m claimed he was made a “scapegoat” to avoid the embarassment of the corporation’s senior management, an employment tribunal has heard (The Guardian)
  3. Sedgley shop steward leading tribunal claim for a dozen laid-off workers – A Sedgley shop steward is leading a legal fight for compensation for a dozen former employees of a West Midlands development firm. Shop Steward Malcolm Hodgkins of Cross Place and his colleagues had been employed by Inex Home Improvements Ltd which had a contract to refurbish scores of Sandwell Council homes (Dudley News)
  4. Bristol academy worker wins race discrimination damages – A black development worker has been awarded £14,000 after suffering racial discrimination and harassment at a Bristol school. David McLeod, 38, was working to boost ethnic minority students’ grades at the City Academy, but was overlooked for promotion in 2012 (BBC)
  5. £557,000 payout goes to RAF nurse – A Royal Air Force nurse who helped treat the severely wounded at Wroughton’s military hospital has been awarded more than £557,000 against the Ministry of Defence after accusing the RAF of favouring men instead of women for promotion in the medical field (The Swindon Advertiser)
  6. ‘Privacy was invaded’ over email exchange with Tesco-employee partner claims former Atherstone Aldi worker – An advertising assistant assured her Atherstone-based Aldi employer she would never do anything to harm her relationship with them as she became involved in a dispute between the German superstore and rival Tesco (The Tamworth Herald)
  7. Medical misconduct whistleblower seeking £650k compensation – Whistleblower Barbara Pawlicka who exposed alleged failings in the way British soldiers are treated in hospital is seeking £650,000 in compensation. The volunteer counsellor lost her job with the Defence Medical Welfare Service after highlighting repeated concerns over standards of care (The Express)
  8. UCU presses to regain costs incurred in legal defence – The University and College Union has stepped up its efforts to recoup the £580,000 it spent defending itself against allegations that it harassed a Jewish academic. In the latest twist in the case of Ronnie Fraser, who took the UCU to an employment tribunal claiming that its policy on Palestine constituted religious harassment, lawyers for the union have argued that he should pay its legal costs (The Times Higher Education Supplement)
  9. 55-year-old man ‘sacked for being too old’ – A 55-year-old man who was sacked, for what he claims as being too old, by a golf club he worked at, has been awarded more than £50,000 by an employment tribunal. The Kent and Sussex Courier has reported that David Ells has been awarded £52,200 after he was dismissed from Nizels Golf Club in Kent (Golf Club Management)
  10. Former CBRE director ends constructive dismissal claim – An executive from CBRE who was ousted from the property consultancy after being arrested on suspicion of rape has dropped legal proceedings. Matt Pullen withdrew his sexual discrimination claim while CBRE dropped its own claim against Mr Pullen — both at a hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice yesterday (The Times)