Employment law stories in the news – 19.03.2018 to 25.03.2018
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 had made headlines between 19 March and 25 March 2018
- Company fined after worker injured – A manufacturer of agricultural equipment has been fined after a worker suffered two broken legs when a stack of metal sheets fell onto his ankles (HSE)
- Protections for NHS whistleblowers will stop blacklisting – NHS whistleblowers will be able to take employers to a tribunal if they are not offered a job because they have spoken up in the past, under draft legislation being introduced today (The Times)
- Sandwell Council in payout over supervisor’s racist abuse – A workman has received £16,000 compensation after he was racially abused by a Sandwell Council supervisor on a job. The incident happened when supervisor Steve Dawson was visiting the claimant while he was working on a council property (The Express and Star)
- Caribbean engineer awarded £11,000 for racial discrimination after colleagues mocked his accent – An engineer of Caribbean origin who claimed his colleagues subjected him to racist remarks in the workplace has been awarded more than £11,000 after a tribunal found he was the victim of direct racial discrimination (People Management)
- Gay hospital chaplain loses discrimination appeal against C of E – A gay clergyman who was prevented by the Church of England from taking up a job in the NHS as a hospital chaplain after he married his partner has lost his case against discrimination (The Guardian)
- Metropolitan Police admits role in blacklisting construction workers – Scotland Yard has admitted Special Branch officers passed information to a controversial network that blacklisted construction workers. It follows a six-year battle to find out if the Metropolitan Police supplied the intelligence on trade unionists (BBC)
- Care workers’ pay for ‘sleep-in’ shifts case reaches appeal court – A legal action over payments for “sleep-in” shifts, which could cost the UK care industry billions if judges rule in favour of workers, has reached the Court of Appeal (ITV)
- Poorest in society ‘excluded’ from getting legal aid, finds report – The poorest in society are being denied access to justice, leaving them unable to address life-changing legal issues such as housing disrepair and eviction threats, new research has found (The Independent)
- Fotheringhame wins Barclays employment claim – Former Barclays managing director David Fotheringhame has won an employment tribunal case against his former employer, with a UK judge ruling the bank unfairly dismissed him from his $1 million-a-year role in December 2016 (FX Week)
- Acas staff fail to negotiate themselves out of a strike – It is the organisation that businesses call in to sort out seemingly irreconcilable differences. Now Acas is facing problems rather closer to home (The Times)