Employment law stories in the news – 13.04.2015 to 19.04.2015

In the latest of our series of posts on employment law stories in the news, we take a look at ten employment law stories that made the news between 13 April and 19 April 2015

1. Second director of failed meat firm is handed boardroom ban – A second director of a Fermanagh meat company has been given a boardroom ban over misconduct including leaving employees without wages for a year. Aidan Rothwell (39), who now lives in Co Cavan, has been disqualified as a director for six years after Tenderlean went bust owing £2m in 2011 (The Belfast Telegraph)
2. British Muslim women 71% more likely to be unemployed due to workplace discrimination – Discrimination against Muslim women in the workplace means they are much more likely to be unemployed than white Christian women – even when they have the same qualifications and language skills – research shows (The Independent)
3. Goldman sued over ‘sex discrimination’ – A senior banker will next week begin an employment case against Goldman Sachs after alleging she was cheated out of millions of pounds of bonuses and subjected to sexist comments. Sonia Pereiro-Mendez, an executive director in distressed investing, is suing Goldman for maternity and sex discrimination claiming that she was discriminated against after telling her managers she was pregnant. Goldman denies her claims (The Financial Times)
4. ‘Quick fix’ Labour plans a cause for concern, experts warn – A Labour government would introduce “quick fixes” and interventionist policies, hindering job growth and sending a signal that Britain was no longer open for business, experts have warned (The Telegraph)
5. Greens would reverse legal aid cuts – The Green party today pledges to ‘restore cuts to legal aid’ in its general election manifesto. Equality before the law would become a fundamental constitutional right, the party said, ‘but this is only a reality if all can afford to use the law’. The manifesto states that legal aid cut by the coalition would be restored, costing around £700m a year (The Law Society Gazette)
6. Recycling firm sentenced over worker’s severed hands – A recycling firm in Southampton has been sentenced for serious safety breaches after a worker had both hands severed while cutting metal strips on an industrial baler (HSE)
7. Post Office ‘failings’ over cash shortfall investigations – The Post Office failed to find out why large cash shortfalls occurred at sub-post offices before starting civil and criminal proceedings against sub-postmasters, a report has found (BBC)
8. Herefordshire factory worker wins discrimination claim against employers – A factory worker has won a discrimination claim against her employers. Tetyana Kyryk took Polytec Car Styling Bromyard to an employment tribunal after complaining the firm discriminated against her while she was expecting her first child (The Hereford Times)
9. Dentist told to pay compensation to nurse who refused to let him kiss her – Colin Cromie, 49, offered to fly his stepson’s ex-girlfriend Xara Grogan, 29, to Barcelona with him. But when she snubbed him he became “increasingly hostile”, a tribunal heard (The Express)
10. Owner of South Devon animal crematorium fined for worker’s death – The owner of a pet and equine crematorium has been fined after a self-employed worker died falling through a roof while carrying out repairs. Paul Hoskin of Christow, Devon, a self-employed agricultural engineer, was asked to repair holes in a cement fibre roof at the crematorium in Newton Abbot on 6 September 2013, when he fell 6.6 metres to the floor where he died (HSE)