Employment law stories in the news – 16.05.2016 to 22.05.2016

redmans-blog-newsIn the latest of our series of posts on employment law cases in the news, we take a look at ten employment law stories that made headlines between 16 May and 22 May 2016

  1. Scottish castle guide wins £40,000 after being bullied by boss – A guide at one of Scotland’s most iconic castles has been awarded £40,000 for constructive dismissal after being bullied by her boss. Shona McLeod, a former guide at Eilean Donan Castle, was told to “wind her neck in” and “keep it zipped” when she raised complaints with management (Herald Scotland)
  2.  Junior doctors’ contracts: Deal ‘agreed’ – A deal has been agreed in the long-running dispute over a new junior doctors’ contract in England. Government negotiators and the British Medical Association leadership have reached an agreement after 10 days of talks at the conciliation service Acas (BBC)
  3. Body manufacturing firm fined after workers crushed between vehicles – A vehicle body manufacturing company in Stoke on Trent has been fined after two workers were seriously injured when they were crushed between a moving vehicle and stationary vehicles (HSE)
  4. Young Mums Under Pressure To Quit: Report – Women aged under 25 are six times more likely than average women to be dismissed from their jobs after telling employers they are pregnant, new figures show. Research from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) showed that 6% in the younger age group reported that they were dismissed after revealing that they were expecting a child compared to 1% among expectant mothers of all ages (Sky)
  5. Union launches fresh waves of equal pay claims against Scotland’s largest council – One of the UK’s largest trade unions has launched a new wave of equal pay claims against Glasgow City Council (Herald Scotland)
  6. Construction bosses ‘tried to hide evidence of their blacklist – Victims of blacklisting by the construction industry, who were awarded a £75m out-of-court settlement, are to demand a police investigation into their claims that key executives tried to pervert the course of justice (The Guardian)
  7. HR executive fails to prove entitlement to pension rights was contractual – Membership of a defined benefit (DB) pension scheme, based on salary rather than defined contributions (DC), is rare these days. In the case Prometric v Cunliffe, the claimant argued that he was entitled to membership of a DB pension plan, rather than his employer’s DC scheme, on the basis of a promise allegedly made to him by a group director back in 2000 (CIPD)
  8. Royal Mail fined after worker suffered injuries -The Royal Mail Group Limited has been fined £50,000 after a worker’s foot was run over by a reach truck in a bundling warehouse. Medway Magistrates Court heard how an incident happened at the Royal Mail Group Limited (RMG) bundling centre in Rochester where a worker stepped out into an aisle and another worker, who was driving a reach truck, ran over his foot causing broken bones and bruising (HSE)
  9. Ex-JPMorgan, Citi FX sales employees sue banks – A former London-based JPMorgan (JPM.N) foreign exchange sales person is suing the Wall Street bank for unfair dismissal, according to a court filing released on Wednesday (Reuters)
  10. BBC will be forced to pay female stars the same as their male counterparts after a confidential legal settlement – The BBC will be forced to pay its female stars the same as their male counterparts after a legal battle was settled out of court. A small group of the corporation’s frustrated talent will get a pay rise after a settlement was brokered by lawyers and the corporation’s bosses behind the scenes (The Mail Online)