Employment law cases in the news – 16.11.2015 to 22.11.2015

redmans-blog-newsIn the latest of our series of posts on employment law stories in the news, we take a look at ten employment law cases that have made the news between 16 November and 22 November 2015

  1. Liverpool midwife ‘unfairly dismissed’ after swine flu vaccine led to narcolepsy – A Liverpool midwife claims she was unfairly dismissed after a rare side-effect from a swine flu vaccine caused her to develop sleep disorder narcolepsy. Rachael Curran, 38, alleges she was made to feel like an inconvenience by bosses at the Countess of Chester Hospital after developing the illness, which causes sufferers to fall asleep suddenly at inappropriate moments (The Liverpool Echo)
  2. Exeter tribunal rejects sexism claims against teaching union boss – A whistleblowing and sex discrimination claim against Britain’s biggest teachers’ union was thrown out yesterday (Wedy) by an employment tribunal. Charlotte Revely was a professional assistant working for the NASUWT union out of their South West Regional Centre in Exeter, Devon (The Exeter Express & Echo)
  3. Meerkat handler who glassed zoo colleague in Christmas party catfight over a llama keeper wins her unfair dismissal case but only because both women should have been sacked – A meerkat handler who glassed a London Zoo colleague at a Christmas party in a row over her llama keeper boyfriend has won her case for unfair dismissal – because both of the women should have been sacked. Caroline Westlake, 30, was dating fellow colleague Adam Davies, also 30, when she launched a catfight against his ex-girlfriend of five years, Kate Sanders, at the party last December (The Daily Mail)
  4. Employment tribunal win for former City Link staff – Former City Link employees who worked at the Belfast depot have won an Industrial Tribunal claim over the company’s failure to properly consult. As previously reported, City Link went into administration on Christmas Eve with the closure of 51 depots and the loss of over 2,500 jobs nationwide (Post & Parcel)
  5. Former Citi FX trader wins unfair dismissal case – A former currencies trader from Citigroup has won his case for unfair dismissal in a London tribunal, after challenging the bank over the way he was treated during the forex scandal. Perry Stimpson was one of several London-based traders that the bank fired in 2014 when Citi found itself at the centre of what ended up being a costly controversy over how dealers handle sensitive client information (The Financial Times)
  6. Hove teacher harassed head by putting up posters saying “wanted for perjury” – A teacher from Hove put up “wanted” posters showing a picture of his old head and accusing her of perjury and covering up a sexual assault. Brian Tomlins, 60, of Hogarth Road, Hove, put up the posters in the area around West Hove Junior School – now Hove Junior School – in June (The Brighton and Hove News)
  7. Banks told golf club to make staff redundant, tribunal hears – Banks were “micro-managing” a north Dublin golf club which found itself in financial crisis and demanded that it make two staff redundant, an Employment Appeals Tribunal has heard. A former book-keeper and secretary manager at Donabate Golf Club told the tribunal she was selected for redundancy without any consultation amid its financial crisis and that she was seeking compensation (The Irish Times)
  8. Sexist pharmaceutical boss behind banned cancer drug wrote ‘red lipstick, heels – good’ on PA’s job application and said: ‘I only employ beautiful women’ – A pharmaceutical boss has been found guilty of sex discrimination after he made notes on his personal assistance’s appearance on her job application. David Noakes, 62, is chief executive of the company behind a so-called cancer ‘wonder drug’ that was banned earlier this year after it was ruled unsafe by health watchdogs (The Daily Mail)
  9. I would cut off his manhood and make him eat it, ex-police charity boss texted, tribunal told – The former boss of a charity for disabled police officers said she wanted to cut a fellow director’s penis off with a blunt knife, it’s been claimed. A tribunal heard that in a sick text message Elaine Hampton said she then wanted to force the director to then eat his severed manhood (The Belfast Telegraph)
  10. Worker suffered fatal crush injuries after being hit by lorry – A commercial vehicle company was ordered to pay £212,500 in fines and costs after one of its workers was killed when a lorry travelling at less than 5km/h crushed him. Warwick Crown Court heard Imperial Commercials Limited failed to provide a safe place for its staff to work, failings which led to the death of one its employees, Craig Stewart Dunn, in January 2014 (HSE)