Employment law cases in the news – 03.08.2015 to 09.08.2015

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 headlines between 3 August and 9 August 2015

  1. Former Cambridge firefighter wins £10,000 in compensation after three-day legal battle – A former Cambridge firefighter will be paid £10,000 in compensation after winning a legal battle with Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS). The money will go to its ex-employee Kerry Baigent, a former Cambridgeshire representative for the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), after she won an employment tribunal for ‘constructive unfair dismissal’ (The Cambridge News)
  2. Court rules Tata Consultancy Services did not discriminate against UK man – After a year of legal wranglings, a UK tribunal has ruled that Indian IT service provider TCS did not discriminate against a UK man seeking employment with it A court has ruled that Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) did not indirectly discriminate against a UK man seeking employment with the company because he was a UK citizen (Computer Weekly)
  3. Canal worker sacked after drinking boast has unfair dismissal victory overturned – A canal worker who was sacked after he claimed on social media he was drinking while on standby for flood alert has had his unfair dismissal case victory overturned on appeal. David Smith insisted the Facebook posts were “banter” and a “joke”, but Scottish Canals dismissed him after taking the view that he had been consuming alcohol (Herald Scotland)
  4. Fired HSBC Executive Sues for $23 Million Amid Racism Claims – HSBC Holdings Plc was sued by a manager who said he was underpaid and ultimately dismissed because senior staff had a problem with the fact he was Turkish and a Muslim. Habib Kaya Biber, the former co-head of the bank’s industrials unit, was treated with “utter disrespect” after 10 years at the bank, his lawyers said in documents filed at a London employment tribunal Tuesday. He is seeking 15 million pounds ($23 million), HSBC said in its own filing (Bloomberg)
  5. Deaf firearms officer left ‘bewildered’ by redeployment calls for alternative hearing test – A partially-deaf Authorised Firearms Officer (AFO) is suing Surrey and Sussex Police, claiming he’s the victim of disability discrimination while working for both forces after being stripped of his title. Bruce Shields lost his position because he was deaf and may have been unable to distinguish between “shoot” and “don’t shoot”, Reading Employment Tribunal was told (Police Professional)
  6. Social worker wrongly blamed for man’s death wins claim for unfair dismissal from Oldham Council – A social worker who was wrongly blamed for the death of a man in his care has won a claim for unfair dismissal. Graham Hennis was fired after being accused by Oldham council of neglecting the man before he fell from a bridge in 2013, but has now been vindicated (The Manchester Evening News)
  7. Union files pay claim to Sports Direct over zero hours contracts – Unions representing staff at Sports Direct’s main warehouse in Shirebrook have filed a pay claim asking the retailer to move thousands of zero-hours workers on to permanent contracts. Unite, which represents just a handful of permanent staff at the site in Derbyshire despite having had a union recognition agreement in place for many years, said Sports Direct should pay staff the living wage of £7.85 an hour (The Guardian)
  8. Business partners fined following worker injured in explosion – Yorkshire business partners are fined after worker is blinded in explosion.  Northallerton Magistrates, 4 August, heard how the explosion at Mason Engineering on 18 November 2013 happened as they were transferring oxygen between pressurised cylinders. The partners had rigged up a make-shift hose fitting that was not designed for the high risk procedure. Debris built up in the end of the hose, causing it to overheat and ignite in the oxygen (HSE)
  9. Female police officers’ dropped claims they were harassed by male colleagues cost £63,000 – Allegations that women police officers were victimised by male colleagues in a police dog unit, which were later dropped, cost the force more than £63,000. Three female officers took the constabulary to an employment tribunal, but dropped their accusations three days into a six-week hearing (The Bristol Post)
  10. Age discrimination: police officers to appeal against EAT decision on A19 retirement – An appeal has been lodged against the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ruling that requiring police officers to retire after 30 years’ service to cut costs was not age discrimination. The EAT judgment in this case, which has wide implications for all police forces in England and Wales, was delivered on 8 July 2015