Employment law cases in the news – 09.11.2015 to 15.11.2015

redmans-blog-newsIn the latest of our series of posts on employment law cases in the news, we take a look at ten employment law cases that have made the news between 9 November and 15 November 2015

  1. CJEU: workers’ refusal to accept significant detrimental contract change can be ‘redundancy’ – An employee who refused to accept a 25% pay cut imposed by her employer could be classed as being dismissed for “redundancy” for the purpose of EU rules governing the conduct of collective redundancy exercises, the EU’s highest court has ruled (Out-Law)
  2. Chelsea’s Eden Hazard ‘could be called as Eva Carneiro’s star witness’ in employment tribunal – Chelsea’s Eden Hazard could be called as Eva Carneiro’s star witness in her constructive dismissal claim against the club, according to reports. The Blues winger was being treated by Carneiro and head physio Jon Fearn during the 2-2 draw with Swansea in August – an incident that led to Jose Mourinho expressing his public fury with his medical staff, who he believed shouldn’t have run onto the pitch (The Mirror)
  3. Bank worker licked and punched colleague on night out in Chester – A bank worker who licked and punched a colleague in the face during a corporate event was fairly sacked, a top judge has ruled. Mark Jones assaulted Andrew Battersby, a colleague at MBNA Ltd, during an outing to Chester Racecourse in November 2013 (The Leader)
  4. Euro Quality Coatings workers ‘made paedophile, gay and racist jokes’ – Workers at a Cardiff factory made racist and homophobic comments, and joked about paedophiles, an employment tribunal has heard. Employee Nathan Owens also alleges swastikas were drawn on toilet cubicle walls at Euro Quality Coatings Ltd (BBC)
  5. Part-time teacher wins two year employment battle against school – A part-time teacher unfairly dismissed after a school tried to force her to work five days a week has won her two-year battle. Denise Hart, who worked with students with dyslexia, speech and sight problems, won a tribunal against St Mary’s School in Colchester and has been awarded £30,000 (The Daily Gazette)
  6. Teaching union NASUWT boss ‘hostile and sexist’ claim – A senior teaching union boss has been accused of fostering a “hostile, sexist and discriminatory environment”. The allegations against Jim Quigley, of the National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), were made at a tribunal hearing in Exeter (BBC)
  7. Dundee United’s youth coach Stevie Campbell quits and will take club to employment tribunal – Dundee United youth coach Stevie Campbell has quit the club – and broken his silence on the rift between him and the Tannadice side that led to him being suspended by the Premiership strugglers (The Courier)
  8. Hartlepool lecturer wins ‘substantial payout’ over treatment at college – A Hartlepool college lecturer unfairly dismissed from her job has received a “substantial” undisclosed payout. Sue Houchen, former head of law at Hartlepool Sixth Form College, resigned last year after taking sick leave due to work-related stress and depression (The Hartlepool Mail)
  9. Firm claimed to “maximise your pay” while taking sneaky deductions – An umbrella company has been found to have unlawfully deducted national insurance payments, pension contributions, and holiday pay from the pay packet of one of its workers (The Mirror)
  10. Top Gear producer to sue Clarkson – The Irish Top Gear producer punched by Jeremy Clarkson is suing the presenter and the BBC for racial discrimination. Lawyers for Clarkson and the BBC attended a closed-door hearing with Oisin Tymon’s legal team at a London employment tribunal on Friday (BBC)