Employment law stories in the news – 16.01.2017 to 22.01.2017

In the latest of our series of posts on employment law stories in the news, we examine eight stories that have made headlines between 16 January 2017 and 22 January 2017

  1. Jaguar Land Rover fined £900,000 after worker injured – National car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover has been fined after a worker lost their leg following a car accident. Birmingham Crown Court heard that on Sunday 8 February 2015 at Jaguar’s Lode Lane plant in Solihull, a Range Rover Sport vehicle was driven toward the start of the production line, an event that normally happens 48 times an hour (HSE)
  2. GMP settles case brought by senior cop who claimed she was ‘fitted up’ – A senior police officer has settled her employment tribunal case against Greater Manchester Police after the force admitted part of the investigation into her had been biased (The Manchester Evening News)
  3. Tribunal backs judges in pensions dispute – The employment tribunal has ruled that the government’s transitional pension arrangements for 210 judges amount to unlawful age discrimination, in a judgment that could have far-reaching consequences for public sector employers (The Law Society Gazette)
  4. New employment tribunal fines net just £18,000 of expected £2.8m a year – A crackdown on rogue businesses has been branded a waste of time as it emerged that the financial penalties handed out so far add up to a tiny fraction of ministers’ predictions (The Belfast Telegraph)
  5. Asbestos Analyst fined for falsifying documents – An asbestos analyst has been fined after he falsified an asbestos air clearance certificate, following licensed asbestos removal in Manchester (HSE)
  6. Rolls-Royce in £670m deferred prosecution deal – Aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce is to pay penalties of more than £670m, plus interest and costs, to avoid prosecution over corruption allegations in the largest deferred prosecution agreement to be approved by English courts (The Law Society Gazette)
  7. 400 ex-Phones 4u staff win £1.4m redundancy pay two years after store closures – More than 400 former employees of Phones 4u have won around £1.4 million in redundancy pay, more than two years after the firm went bust (The Belfast Telegraph)
  8. Cleveland Police agrees to £185,000 payout over claims of racial discrimination and victimisation – Under-fire Cleveland Police has agreed a payout understood to be worth more than £185,000 to four officers over claims of racial discrimination and victimisation of whistleblowers. An employment tribunal involving four officers, Inspector Michael Wall, Sergeant Waseem Khan, PC Sharday Malik and PC Paul Brown, the former chair of the Cleveland Police Federation, was due to take place this month (The Northern Echo)