Employment law cases in the news – 11.05.2015 to 17.05.2015

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 the news between 11 May and 17 May 2015

  1. Special Branch asked to ‘dig up dirt’ on Asian officer, tribunal hears – Two Asian officers at Cleveland Police were being bugged – and Special Branch was asked to “dig up dirt” on one of them, a tribunal heard yesterday. PC Nadeem Saddique, who is pursuing a claim of racial discrimination against the force, told the employment hearing that two fellow officers told him he was under surveillance (The Northern Echo)
  2. Former Bulls coach wins wrongful dismissal case – Former Bradford Bulls head coach Francis Cummins has won his case for wrongful dismissal against his old club. The 38-year-old former Leeds and Great Britain winger was in charge of the Bulls from September 2012 to June 2014 when he was sacked by the current administration with the team in danger of relegation from Super League (ITV)
  3. Lloyd’s Register boys network ‘made life hell for female staff’ – One of the City’s longest-running institutions is a hostile environment for women where men who have affairs or harass women are protected, an employment tribunal has been told. Diane Maiara-Kiande, 40, claimed that while she was at Lloyd’s Register a director’s flat was used for an affair between two work colleagues, but the senior male employee kept his job while his lover was forced out (The Times)
  4. Former St Neots Town Council clerk Helen King wins unfair dismissal settlement – St Neots Town Council has agreed a settlement with a former town clerk who won an employment tribunal after she was dismissed. But the cost of the payout to Helen King, who was found to have been dismissed unfairly, is not being revealed (Cambridge News)
  5. Age discrimination case narrowly avoids extending employers’ liability – The Court of Appeal has recently had to decide, in the case CLFIS (UK) v Reynolds, whether the “mental processes” of two colleagues who provided information about a claimant’s performance to the manager who took the decision to dismiss her should be considered in an age discrimination case (CIPD)
  6. Whistleblowing: complaint about line manager’s rudeness to colleague not “in the public interest” – An employment tribunal has struck out whistleblowing claims brought by an individual who argued that he made a protected disclosure when he complained that his line manager had been rude to a colleague. The claimant did not reasonably believe that he was making the disclosure “in the public interest” (XpertHR)
  7. Former nurse’s career blighted after blowing whistle on IT problems – A former nurse who raised concerns about a health service database said her disclosure had a “detrimental effect” on her and her career. Bernadette Rochford, who worked as a continuing care commissioner at the then Southwark Primary Care Trust (PCT) in south London, raised concerns about a database which she claimed included names of patients who had been dead for several years (Computer Weekly)
  8. Millionaire businessman wins gagging order over alleged sex parties – A multi-millionaire businessman has won a permanent ban on a former friend and business colleague from exposing details of alleged sex and drugs parties. The former associate tried to blackmail the man, the chief executive officer of a substantial group of companies, after he was accused of misappropriating company funds (The Telegraph)
  9. Prison guard wins unfair dismissal case over dinner row – A prison officer who was sacked for allegedly grabbing the neck of an inmate who was demanding second dinner helpings has won his case for unfair dismissal. Ross Callachan, a former guard at HMP Glenochil in Clackmannanshire, has been awarded almost £7,000 by an employment tribunal after bosses accused him of seizing the prisoner when he became aggressive in the middle of food service (Herald Scotland)
  10. NHS Foundation Trust fined for after worker suffered serious burns – Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (KGH), has been fined after an employee received serious burns whilst stripping down a steam boiler. On 5 November 2012, a maintenance worker at KGH was stripping down a steam boiler for periodic examination, when he received serious steam burn injuries to the lower half of his body (HSE)