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

  1. 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)
  2. 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)
  3. 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)
  4. 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)
  5. 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)
  6. 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)
  7. 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)
  8. 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)
  9. 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)
  10. 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)