Employment law cases in the news – 07.11.2016 to 13.11.2016

redmans-blog-newsIn the latest of our series of posts on employment law cases in the news, we take a look at ten employment law cases that made headlines between 7 November and 13 November 2016

  1. Three fined after man loses life due to fall through fragile roof – A company, its director, and a self-employed contractor have been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), after Terry Lewis (a 65 year old retired mechanic) was fatally injured by falling through a roof light (HSE)
  2. ‘F*** OFF OUT OF MY HOUSE’ Multi-millionaire couple ‘sacked gay housekeeper by text after he let his boyfriend stay over’ – A multi-millionaire couple have been sued by their live-in housekeeper who claimed they sacked him unfairly. Robin Pyke fell out with the lady of the house when she discovered his boyfriend was staying at the £10m seven-bedroom mansion without her knowledge and that he was looking after someone else’s dog at the property and charging the animal owner £500 a week (The Sun)
  3. Fair dismissal for refusal to work Christmas overtime – An employment tribunal held that that a food company employee was fairly dismissed after she refused to do overtime in the run-up to Christmas and complained about being asked to work extra hours, causing discontent among colleagues (Personnel Today)
  4. Woodchester hotel The Convent ordered to pay out over ‘unpaid wages’ as ex-staff claim they are owed thousands – After a hotel was ordered to pay a former employee thousands of pounds, other ex-members of staff have come forward to claim they are owed money (Stroud News and Journal)
  5. Sex segregation not inherently discriminatory – In Interim Executive Board of X School v HM Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills, the High Court has held that a faith school’s policy of segregating male and female students did not amount to direct sex discrimination (ELAweb)
  6. Southport man lost his job after telling bosses he had cancer – A Southport man has spoke out after he was dismissed from his job when he was diagnosed with Lymphoma in 2010. Terry Foster from Southport, was diagnosed with lymphoma for the second time in 2010 and when he told his employer about his illness they were very supportive (The Southport Visitor)
  7. Window fitter in court after worker suffered fatal head injuries – A Southampton window installation company has been fined after a worker suffered fatal head injuries following a fall from a ladder. Brighton Magistrates Court heard how Mark Taylor, 48, a window fitter from Southampton, was helping in the installation of UPVC windows at a 3 storey house in Brighton on the 10 September 2014 (HSE)
  8. Chaplain’s Pay ‘£5,000 Short’ – Prison chiefs are discriminating against a chaplain on grounds of race and religion, Britain’s top court will hear on Monday. Muslim chaplain Mohammad Naeem had served for 10 years when he originally took his case to an employment tribunal in 2011, complaining that he was earning £5,000 less than longer-serving Christian counterpart (The People’s Daily Morning Star)
  9. Ex-Pearson Jones director loses legal fight with Standard Life over pay – Former Pearson Jones director Peter Heckingbottom has lost a case over remuneration with Standard Life after representing himself at a tribunal (City Wire)
  10. Manifestly inappropriate final written warning could not be relied on – In Bandara v British Broadcasting Corporation the EAT has upheld the decision of an employment tribunal that an employer had not been entitled to rely upon an existing final written warning when considering whether to dismiss an employee for further misconduct because the decision to issue the existing warning was ‘manifestly inappropriate’ (ELAweb)