Employment law stories in the news – 02.02.2015 to 08.02.2015

redmans-blog-newsIn the latest of our series of posts on employment law stories in the news, we look at ten employment law stories that have made headlines between

  1. Building firm sentenced for corporate manslaughter – A building firm and its owner have been sentenced today (3 February 2015) at Preston Crown Court, following an incident in 2011 where a man died as a result of falling through a roof (HSE)
  2. ‘Slave labour’ maids told their Saudi diplomat boss has immunity – Two domestic workers who say they were trafficked and then treated as slaves by a Saudi diplomat and his wife have been told he is protected from a compensation claim by diplomatic immunity (The Telegraph)
  3. European Court of Justice’s redundancy guidance paves return to “pre-Woolworths status quo” – Employers are one step closer to being able to return to the “pre-Woolworths status quo” when it comes to redundancy consultation. The European Court of Justice’s advocate general has this morning said that employers need not be bound by costly collective redundancy rules (City AM)
  4. Fireball victim Paul Graham of Huntingdon earns sympathy but no compensation – A vehicle worker who was turned into a fireball by a friend and left badly burned has lost a bid for a six figure compensation payout. Appeal court judges ruled that Paul Graham’s employers, Commercial Bodyworks Ltd, of Graveley, could not be held responsible for his injuries (Cambridge News)
  5. Sports Direct faces multimillion-pound claim from zero-hours contract workers – Sports Direct is facing a claim for millions of pounds from nearly 300 workers excluded from the retailer’s generous bonus scheme because they were on zero-hours contracts. The employees were excluded from a bonus scheme that paid out about £160m worth of shares to 2,000 “permanent” workers in 2013 (The Guardian)
  6. Tesco’s ex-boss and finance officer to share £2m payout – Tesco’s former chief executive and finance director will share £2.2m in severance pay after the supermarket said it was “contractually committed” to make the payments. Philip Clarke and Laurie McIlwee, who left the firm last year, will receive £1,217,000 and £970,880 respectively (BBC)
  7. Roadchef workers win 17-year battle for lost shares – Hundreds of Roadchef employees will be thousands of pounds better off after settling a dispute over share options dating back to the 1990s. Some 20% of the motorway catering firm’s shares were allocated to staff by managing director Patrick Gee, who died before the scheme was completed (BBC)
  8. Guidance on the use of settlement agreements and new ‘prior approval’ process – The Cabinet Office has issued guidance on the use of settlement agreements, special severance payments and confidentiality clauses. The guidance applies to all civil service organisations and their arm’s length bodies (ALBs) and a ‘prior approval’ process from 1 February 2015 (The Lawyer)
  9. Ed Miliband unveils plan to double length of paternity leave – A Labour government would double the length of paternity leave and vastly increase levels of paternity pay, under plans to be revealed by Ed Miliband on Monday. New fathers would be offered four weeks away from work and be paid £260 per week – £100 more than at present – the Labour leader will say. The plans would be funded from savings from tax credits (The Guardian)
  10. Two in five new fathers won’t qualify for shared parental leave, says TUC – Two in five (40 per cent) new fathers won’t qualify for new rights to shared parental leave, according to analysis published by the TUC today. From April mothers will be allowed to share up to 50 weeks of their maternity leave and 37 weeks of their pay with their partners (TUC)