Employment law stories in the news – 12.03.2018 to 18.03.2018

In the latest of our series of posts on employment law stories in the news we examine ten employment law stories that have made headlines between 12 March and 18 March 2018

  1. Liverpool Prison workers fired for raising safety fears – Two maintenance workers were sacked for raising concerns about health and safety at troubled Liverpool Prison, the BBC has learned. John Bromilow and Harry Wildman, who worked at the jail for more than 20 years, were fired by Amey who had the contract for prison repairs (BBC)
  2. Former employee wins over £60,000 after constructive unfair dismissal from Countrywide – A woman who was unfairly dismissed from Countrywide has won over £60,000. She had complained of a drop in staff morale, and her inability to lodge tenants’ deposits after Countrywide bought the firm she worked for (Property Industry Eye)
  3. Northampton prison officer wins compensation after suffering anxiety attacks when working on sex offenders unit – A Northampton prison officer has settled a case for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination against the Secretary of State for Justice after she was made ill when forced to work on a sex offenders unit (The Northampton Chronicle)
  4. MPs call for unpaid shifts to be illegal – Some MPs and lawyers have called for a blanket ban on unpaid shift work. Companies can currently invite prospective employees to do trial shifts with the carrot of a job at the end (BBC)
  5. Employment appeal a ‘missed opportunity’ says Hale – A headteacher was correctly dismissed for not disclosing her friendship with a man who had been convicted of making indecent images of children, the Supreme Court ruled this morning – in a case which president Baroness Hale suggested missed an opportunity to consider important points of employment law (The Law Society Gazette)
  6. HSBC reveals big gender pay gap – HSBC has reported a 29% median gender pay gap for its UK banking operations. However, the company also reported a 59% gap on the mean measure for hourly pay for 2017 (BBC)
  7. Head sacked over friendship with paedophile – A primary school head teacher was sacked after failing to disclose her friendship with a man convicted of making indecent images of children (The Times)
  8. Rig worker awarded £8k racial harassment damages over colleague’s N-word rant – A supervisor on an oil rig has been awarded £8,000 in a racial harassment case after overhearing a colleague using the N-word. Ray Atkinson, who is black, was upset when project manager Mark McCoag used the offensive term about himself when ranting about his lazy son (The Daily Record)
  9. Police whistleblower ‘told she had risked officer’s life’ – A whistleblower said that she felt her employers tried to “threaten and frighten” her after she raised concerns about payouts to one of Scotland’s most senior police officers (The Times)
  10. SBC slammed as sacked worker awarded £56k compensation – Senior officials at Scottish Borders Council have been slammed by a judge after a former senior manager was awarded more than £56,000 in compensation following an unfair dismissal Tribunal (The Border Telegraph)