Employment law cases in the news – 10.10.2016 to 16.10.2016

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 have made headlines between 10 October and 16 October 2016

  1. Star Wars film maker fined £1.6 million for injuring Harrison Ford – The makers of Star Wars: The Force Awakens have been sentenced after failing to protect the actors and workers while on set during filming at Pinewood Studio, Slough, Buckinghamshire (HSE)
  2. Uber drivers await tribunal verdict on employment status – Tens of thousands of Uber drivers in the UK could qualify for holiday and sick pay when an employment tribunal reconvenes in London on Wednesday, in what has been heralded as the employment law case of the year (The Guardian)
  3. Former Boulby Potash manager says he was unfairly dismissed – A former manager of Boulby Potash mine has taken the company to court over what he believes was an unfair dismissal. Gary Todd was made redundant from his position as a manager from the mine in Saltburn in February after working for Cleveland Potash Ltd since 1980 (The Gazette Live)
  4. Golfing supremo, 61, who dined with royalty to secure £120million Rolex sponsorship deal for the PGA European Tour ‘was sacked because he was too old’ – A golfing supremo who dined with royalty to secure huge sponsorship deals worth more than £100 million for the PGA European Tour was sacked because he was too old, an employment tribunal was told (The Daily Mail)
  5. Barclays taken to employment tribunal by former senior executive – A former senior Barclays executive will take the bank to an employment tribunal next month, as he brings an unfair dismissal claim against his former boss (The Telegraph)
  6. Lesbian art tutor fights for job after student sex romp – Lesbian art tutor Nia Davies was an old master when it came to seducing her teen pupil, a British employment tribunal was told (The Toronto Sun)
  7. Building contractor in court after worker killed by falling load – A building contractor has been fined after a worker was killed when a load fell from a tower crane during a lifting operation in Colchester. Urban Summit Construction Ltd was the Principal Contractor on a construction site at King Edward Quay, Haven Road, Colchester, where 780 student accommodation apartments were being built (HSE)
  8. Asda workers win major step in equal pay claim battle – More than 9,500 women who work at Asda have won a step forward in their battle for equal pay. An employment tribunal has ruled that the women, who mainly work at check-outs or stacking shelves, can compare themselves to higher paid men who work at warehouses (BBC)
  9. Unite union’s women officers say they’ve been asked to wear high heels and if they are wearing stockings while in ‘pale, stale and male’ meetings – The country’s biggest union has come under fire from female officers who claim they are referred to as a ‘piece of skirt’. Female officers at Unite, which represents hundreds of thousands of workers on low wages, claim there is a ‘pale, stale, male’ culture at the union and if they dare complain, their male counterparts ‘make [their] life hell’ (The Daily Mail)
  10. Tesco faces legal action from staff in pay dispute – Tesco is facing legal action from staff who say they lost out on pay for working anti-social hours. The complaint is from 17 workers who are “extremely unhappy” at seeing their pay rates change for weekends, bank holidays and night shifts (BBC)