Employment law cases in the news – 14.03.2016 to 20.03.2016

redmans-blog-newsIn the latest of our series of posts on employment law cases in the news, we take a look at nine employment law cases that have made the news between 14 March and 20 March 2016

  1. Care company MiHomecare could face legal action over wages – A major care company could be facing a bill for hundreds of thousands of pounds for non-payment of the minimum wage. MiHomecare could face a group action lawsuit by care workers after it paid £1,250 to a carer in an out of court settlement (BBC)
  2. Family partnership fined after worker fell through skylight – A family partnership in Pembrokeshire has been fined after a worker fell through a skylight forming part of the roof of a cattle shed to the concrete floor below. Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court heard how the Rees family partnership of Gwynne (father), Margaret (mother) and Richard (son) had contracted the company Evans Agri Contracting (EAC) to carry out a one day silage harvest (HSE)
  3. Sacked Aberystwyth teacher wins unfair dismissal tribunal – A teacher who was sacked after complaints about his behaviour has won an unfair dismissal case. David Reeves, a chemistry teacher at Ysgol Penweddig in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, was sacked in January 2015. The school said he was already on a final written warning (BBC)
  4. Judge sues Ministry of Justice for discrimination – A top black lawyer is suing the government after he was told he could face a formal warning for claiming that racism is “alive and well” not only in British public life but also, “sometimes”, the judiciary. Peter Herbert OBE — barrister, political activist, judge and chair of the Society of Black Lawyers — made the damning allegation after Bangladesh-born Lutfur Rahman, former Tower Hamlets mayor, was banned from holding public office for five years (Legal Cheek)
  5. Part-time judges ‘out of time’ to claim pension rights – A group of part-time judges has been refused permission to bring claims for better pensions after a judge ruled they were out of time (The Law Society Gazette)
  6. Translink awarded legal costs over ‘vexatious’ religious discrimination case – A Translink worker who alleged that religious discrimination forced him out of his job will have to pay legal costs after withdrawing his complaint ahead of a tribunal hearing (The Newsletter)
  7. National crane company fined £750,000 for two deaths after collapse – A national crane hire company has been sentenced for failings that led to the death of two men as a crane collapsed in London. Southwark Crown Court heard crane operator Jonathan Cloke, 37, died after falling from the crane as it collapsed. It fell onto Michael Alexa, 23, a member of the public, and also killed him (HSE)
  8. Terrence Higgins Trust chief executive forced out after bullying campaign, tribunal hears – The chief executive of one of Britain’s biggest HIV charity was forced out after a “nasty, vindictive and sustained campaign of bullying” which began on her second day in the job, a tribunal heard (The Telegraph)
  9. Homophobia row preacher loses HMP Littlehey tribunal – A prison minister who resigned after a row about “homophobic” Bible quotes which he read to inmates has had his claim for unfair dismissal rejected. Reverend Barry Trayhorn, 51, told an employment tribunal he had read the verses at HMP Littlehey in Cambridgeshire in 2014 (BBC)