Employment law cases in the news – 14.11.2016 to 20.11.2016

redmans-blog-newsIn the latest of our series of posts on employment law cases in the news, we examine ten employment law cases that have made headlines between 14 November and 20 November 2016

  1. Failure to allow for rest breaks under WTR a ‘refusal’ even if no request – In Grange v Abellio London Ltd, the EAT has held that a claim for ‘refusal’ to permit rest breaks under the Working Time Regulations 1998 can be brought where the employer fails to make provision for such breaks, even if the worker does not expressly request them (ELAweb)
  2. Four receive suspended jail sentences for health and safety failings – The director of a Port Talbot furniture factory and three of its managers have received suspended prison sentences for ongoing health and safety failings (HSE)
  3. Cancer patient given just 48 hours to live cruelly sacked after winning battle with lymphoma – A father who defied the odds and won his battle with cancer after doctors told him he had just hours to live was cruelly sacked after he reported back to work. Terry Foster, 58, was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2007, while his wife, Melanie, was pregnant with their first child (The Mirror)
  4. Christian JP who was sacked for his views over same-sex parents is suing Jeremy Hunt after losing his job in the NHS – A Christian magistrate sacked for speaking out against adoption by same-sex parents is suing Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt after also losing a senior NHS role. Richard Page was suspended as an NHS Trust director following decades of service in the organisation after he said it was better for children to be brought up by a man and a woman (The Daily Mail)
  5. Teaching assistant sacked for objecting to 9/11 footage rejects compensation – A teaching assistant who was sacked for objecting to young children being shown graphic footage of the 9/11 attacks has turned down a compensation offer from the school and has vowed to fight the case in court (The Guardian)
  6. Inverclyde Council set to agree £2 million equal pay deal – Council bosses are on he verge of agreeing a £2 million equal pay package for almost 1,000 Inverclyde women. A deal to compensate around 800 employees who claim they have been underpaid compared to their male counterparts is close to being signed between local authority and union officials (The Greenock Telegraph)
  7. Company fined after workers fall into pulping machine – A maintenance company has appeared in court after a worker suffered serious injuries after falling 7 metres. The worker, suffered fractures to his left foot in the incident on the 9 July 2014 (HSE)
  8. Fraud squad to ask for Barclays tribunal to take place behind closed doors – The fraud squad will tomorrow ask for an employment tribunal for an ex-Barclays exec to take place in private, on the grounds it could compromise its ongoing investigation into the bank (City AM)
  9. Jewish Girls Gone Wild porn movie allegation: Treehouse Nursery, Wanstead tribunal continues – A nursery school began monitoring one of its teachers on CCTV after concerns over her “erratic” behaviour, a tribunal has heard. An employment tribunal resumed this week into a case brought by teacher Allison Hilton against Treehouse Nursery in Wanstead (Guardian Series)
  10. Younger judges take government to court over pension cuts – The government has demonstrated a “signal breach of faith” in cutting the pensions of recently appointed judges, an employment tribunal has been told. Presenting a claim on behalf of six high court judges against the Ministry of Justice, Michael Beloff QC said it was irrelevant that they earned more than most other public sector workers or that “there is a need to cut public expenditure” (The Guardian)