Employment law cases in the news – 01.06.2015 to 07.06.2015

redmans-blog-newsIn the latest of our series of posts on employment law cases in the news, we examine eight employment law case that have made headlines between 1 June and 7 June 2015

  1. Company fined £140,000 after worker crushed under forklift truck – A Leicestershire aluminium fabricator was sentenced today (3 June) after a worker was crushed under a lifting truck which tipped over while lifting extruder dies from storage racks. Stefan Durina, 33, of Beeston, Nottinghamshire, died following the incident at Boal UK Ltd in Shepshed, near Loughborough, on 23 June 2013 (HSE)
  2. Tragic fiscal settles tribunal case after near-fatal crash – A north lawyer who was sacked from her job following a near-fatal car crash has settled her case for unfair dismissal. But Emma Knox will not be returning to her job as procurator fiscal in Inverness after reaching a monetary settlement with her former employers, believed to run into tens of thousands of pounds (The Press and Journal)
  3. Firm in court after two workers severely injured in roof fall – A Lichfield-based firm carrying out work in Perth has been fined for serious safety failings after two workers fell over four metres when a vehicle spray booth they were constructing collapsed. John Quinn aged 35 and Joshua Perry aged 21 both of Lichfield were employed by Clive Thompson Installations Ltd when on 22 January 2014 they accessed the partially completed roof of the spray booth in order to fit an extractor fan (HSE)
  4. Whistleblower banned from working after raising concerns over elderly woman ‘living like a dog’ – A former carer claims she was banned from working in Waltham Forest after raising concerns over the treatment of an elderly woman “living like a dog” in her own home. Donna Archer, 50, of Park Road, Leyton, has now called greater transparency and training for carers in Waltham Forest following an employment tribunal victory which overturned a suspension from Westminster Homecare (The Epping Guardian)
  5. Bus driver fairly dismissed for breach of policy on mobile phone use while driving – An employment tribunal has held that the dismissal of a bus driver who was seen holding his mobile phone while exiting a bus stand, in breach of the employer’s very strict and clearly communicated mobile phone rules, was fair (Xpert HR)
  6. Lewisham Southwark College loses employment tribunal case over blind worker’s access to software – Lewisham Southwark College discriminated against a blind employee by failing to make reasonable adjustments to help him do his job, an employment tribunal has ruled. It found, last week, that disability officer Michael Lambert (pictured above) had been put at a “substantial disadvantage” to his colleagues after the college refused to give him access to software that was central to his role (FEweek)
  7. Quinn Jnr gets €95k award for ‘unfair’ dismissal – Sean Quinn Junior has been awarded more than €95,000 after an Employment Appeals Tribunal determined he had been sacked by his former employers “under the cloak of redundancy”. The son of the country’s one-time richest man, Sean Quinn, had alleged that he was dismissed from his role as head of claims with Quinn Insurance as part of a “de-Quinning” process at the company (Independent.ie)
  8. South Yorkshire recycling firm prosecuted over young worker’s injury – A Rotherham recycling firm has been sentenced over serious safety dangers on a conveyor after a 25-year-old worker had his arm broken in three places when it was drawn into unguarded machinery. Ryan Jackson, from Rawmarsh, also suffered a cracked shoulder blade and had a radial nerve shredded to the bone in the incident at the metal recycling company C F Booth Ltd in Armer Street on 4 December 2013 (HSE)
  9. GP nurse gets €26,000 after unfair dismissal – A GP practice nurse who told her boss that “I am not a docker” after being asked to sign a time sheet form has been awarded €26,000 for unfair dismissal. In its ruling, the Employment Appeals Tribunal has awarded Miriam McGrath €26,000 after finding that GP Now unfairly dismissed her on September 12, 2013 (The Irish Examiner)