Employment law cases in the news – 08.02.2015 to 14.02.2015

redmans-blog-newsIn the latest of our series of posts on employment law cases in the news, we examine ten employment law cases that made the news between 8 February and 14 February 2016

  1. Waitress claims compensation from family-owned cafe after dismissal – A husband and wife business duo have lashed out at a “vindictive” waitress seeking compensation from them – despite being sacked for raiding their till. Cafe owners Jan and Simon Hargreaves were brought before an employment tribunal in Inverness yesterday by former employee Anne Read (The Press and Journal)
  2. Dyslexic employee wins discrimination case against Starbucks – Companies could be hit by a “deluge of claims” from employees with dyslexia after a woman won a disability discrimination case against Starbucks because she struggles to read, write and tell the time. Meseret Kumulchew, a supervisor at a south-west London branch of the coffee chain, accused by her employers of falsifying documents and demoted, which she said left her feeling suicidal (The Telegraph)
  3. Council considers bid to recover £250,000 costs of tribunal – Bournemouth council is considering a bid to recover the £250,000 costs it incurred fighting a constructive dismissal claim from a “threatening and abusive” ex-employee. The borough’s former £103,850 per year finance director, Liz Wilkinson, took the authority to an employment tribunal after alleging she had been forced to resign for acting as a “whistleblower” (The Bournemouth Echo)
  4. Lawyer drops Huw Merriman MP harassment claim – A lawyer who claimed she was harassed by a married Conservative MP has dropped her £250,000 case. Solicitor Patronia Campbell had claimed she was bullied by Sussex MP Huw Merriman after a one-night stand in 2011 when they worked at a London bank (BBC)
  5. Religious festivals: no requirement to give employee five weeks off – An employment tribunal found that London Underground was entitled to turn down an employee’s request for five consecutive weeks’ annual leave in the summer to attend religious festivals (Personnel Today)
  6. Hampshire Police in discrimination payout to demoted mum – A police officer who had her promotion taken away when she asked for flexible working hours has been awarded more than £11,000 in compensation. Mother-of-two Hayley Burden made the request because she was unable to provide childcare after being posted more than an hour’s commute from home (BBC)
  7. Married NHS HR exec who was branded a ‘whore’ and hounded from her job gets £800k payout – An NHS sex scandal has cost the taxpayer almost £1.5 million after a married woman exec was hounded out of her job by a randy boss who branded her “a whore”. Married Helen Marks, was sacked after a bullying campaign by NHS Foundation Trust boss Alan Baines (The Sun)
  8. Cocaine postman loses unfair dismissal case – A postman who was found with a parcel of cocaine in his home has lost an unfair dismissal complaint. The Employment Appeals Tribunal heard that Gregory Crowe, 42, was a long-term heroin addict when gardai found €2,500 worth of cocaine in his house (The Times)
  9. Peter Shilton’s fiancee from north Essex launches tribunal against Colchester-based Care UK – Former England goalkeeper Peter Shilton stood side-by-side with his fiancee yesterday as she launched an employment tribunal against a care company. Steph Hayward has begun a claim against Colchester-based Care UK following her dismissal last year after she made whistleblowing claims (EADT)
  10. £76,000 for stressed boss who was forced to resign – An employment tribunal has held that a former director of a north-east energy firm was forced into resigning after oil tycoon Ian Suttie ignored concerns about apparent financial irregularities in the company’s records (Press and Journal)