Employment tribunal stories in the news this week – 07.04.2014 to 13.04.2014

MoJIn the latest of our series of posts on employment tribunal stories in the news this week, we take a look at ten employment tribunal cases that have made the news between 7 April and 13 April 2014.

  1. Retiree unfairly dismissed by Perth and Kinross Council – A long-serving Perth and Kinross Council employee who thought he was “winding down” to retirement was shocked when his contract was terminated. An employment tribunal in Dundee has upheld the unfair dismissal claim of John Robertson, 62, of Sutherland Crescent, Abernethy, and ordered the council to pay him £22,465 (The Courier)
  2. Teacher brands Glenalmond College’s tribunal appeal ‘scandalous’ – A Perthshire teacher who was said to be the victim of “one of the worst cases of disability discrimination” her union had ever seen has learned that her ordeal may not be over. Alison Haylock, 56, felt forced to quit her £47,000-a-year post at elite Glenalmond College after water supply problems made her life intolerable (The Courier)
  3. Company run by former Exmouth bowling alley directors who owe thousands to former employees is dissolved – One of several former members of staff collectively owed thousands of pounds in wages by the former directors of Exmouth seafront’s bowling alley complex, says he doesn’t believe he will ever be paid now that the company has been wound-up (The Exeter Express & Echo)
  4. Employment Tribunal throws out discrimination and harassment case – Optical Express has been cleared of wrongdoing in an employment tribunal brought against it by a former regional manager. Luke Cowell alleged that the multiple’s group operations director Hugh Kerr made derogatory comments to him about a disabled female employee and was sacked after he disclosed them to the multiple’s HR department (Optician)
  5. Parliament Has Spent Over £100,000 Fighting Employment Tribunals – The House of Commons has spent over £100,000 fighting staff employment tribunals, the Huffington Post UK can reveal. Following a Freedom of Information request, the House of Commons revealed that it had faced 16 employment tribunal claims since May 2010, spending £91,310.93 on legal costs. Five of the cases were settled at a total additional cost of £14,218.96 (The Huffington Post)
  6. Supermarket staff could win millions in equal pay cases – Supermarkets may have to pay millions of pounds in higher wages and back pay to store staff, mainly women, if test cases for equal pay being brought by 400 workers are successful (The Guardian)
  7. Greenwich Time journalists hearing: Is work experience ‘substitution’? – A former Greenwich Time reporter was grilled in court today over whether a Finnish student who wrote an article for the council-owned paper was a “substitute” or “on work experience” (The News Shopper)
  8. Law firm sacked charity boss for ‘misuse of its funds’ – The chief executive of a human rights charity was fired from a Bradford law firm after it accused her of using the firm’s cash to bankroll her lifestyle and charitable work, an employment tribunal heard (The Telegraph & Argus)
  9. Rolls-Royce engineer loses tribunal case on ‘whistle-blowing dismissal’ – An employment tribunal has dismissed a claim from a senior Rolls-Royce engineer saying he was sacked for blowing the whistle on allegations of potentially serious problems with the company’s jet engines (The Guardian)
  10. Payouts are unknown in 19 settled-out-of-court claims – Fire chiefs have reached 19 out-of-court settlements with employees who have brought employment tribunal claims against the service over the past nine years — but won’t reveal how much money it has cost the taxpayer (The Llanelli Star)