Employment law stories in the news – 05.05.2014 to 11.05.2014

MoJIn the latest of our series of posts on employment law stories in the news this week, we take a look at ten employment law stories that have made the news between 5 May and 11 May 2014.

  1. Barclays cuts 7,000 investment bank jobs – Barclays has moved to cut 7,000 jobs from its investment banking operation and create a £400bn “bad bank” as part of a strategic overhaul aimed at arresting the decline in the lender’s trading operations (Financial Times)
  2. I was blacklisted for speaking out, claims NHS whistleblower – A former NHS worker has told The Times newspaper that she believes that she was blacklisted by the organisation after she spoke out in 2007 about concerns regarding health and safety in NHS hospitals (The Times)
  3. Whistleblowers sacked by NHS demand inquiry – A group of NHS whistleblowers who claim their lives have been ruined have written to a senior health department official demanding a judge-led inquiry into their cases. The six, who include Dr David Drew from Walsall and Dr Raj Mattu from Coventry, say that, although they raised concerns out of genuine interest in patient safety, they were targeted, ostracised and driven out (The Birmingham Post)
  4. Fifth of staff on probation fail trial period or have it extended – Almost one in five new employees fails to get past their probation period or has their time on trial extended because of doubts about their ability to do the job or fit in to the workplace (The Telegraph)
  5. UCU presses to regain costs incurred in legal defence – The University and College Union has stepped up its efforts to recoup the £580,000 it spent defending itself against allegations that it harassed a Jewish academic. In the latest twist in the case of Ronnie Fraser, who took the UCU to an employment tribunal claiming that its policy on Palestine constituted religious harassment, lawyers for the union have argued that he should pay its legal costs (The Times Higher Education Supplement)
  6. Conservatives would reform union strike rules, Cameron confirms – A future Conservative government would introduce a threshold on union ballots for strike action, Prime Minister David Cameron has said. The PM pledged to take action on the matter if he won a majority in the 2015 general election (BBC)
  7. Sacked Mackay agrees settlement with Cardiff – Malky Mackay has dropped his legal claim against Cardiff City after reaching a settlement with the club over his dismissal as manager, he announced via his lawyers on Friday (Yahoo News)
  8. Acas backs effort to cut employer tribunals – Dispute mediator Acas is expected to announce an overwhelmingly strong reception to a scheme intended to reduce the number of claims against employers that are taken to a tribunal hearing (The Telegraph)
  9. Farce as councils spend £24million making thousands of staff redundant – only to re-hire them just weeks later – Local councils have been slammed for handing out £24milllion in redundancy payouts – only to re-employ the same staff weeks later. Figures show nearly 2,000 workers have been made redundant and then re-employed again by local authorities in the last four years (The Mail Online)
  10. Self-employed workers earn 40% less than employees – The typical self-employed worker earns 40 per cent less than an employee, according to research pointing to complex reasons behind the UK’s rapid growth in self-employment. Earnings of the self-employed dropped by 20 per cent between 2007 and 2012 (Financial Times)