Employment law cases in the news – 17.08.2015 to 23.08.2015

redmans-blog-newsIn the latest of our series of posts on employment law cases in the news, we take a look at nine employment law cases that made headlines between 17 August and 23 August 2015

  1. Maintenance worker in unfair dismissal case against HSE – Dermot Comerford carried out a maintenance work at Ballydowd special care unit between 2006 and 2013, having previously worked for an agency which provided maintenance at the unit. He claims he was unfairly dismissed in 2013 after being asked to provide evidence of public liability insurance, which he says he did not require because he was an employee (The Irish Times)
  2. Kids Company staff sue for redundancy – More than 40 former employees of Kids Company, who lost their jobs without any redundancy payments when the charity collapsed, have consulted lawyers (The Times)
  3. Food manufacturing company and director sentenced – A multi million pound turnover food manufacturer and one of its directors have been fined after a worker was crushed by a forklift truck at its Warwickshire factory. Leamington Crown Court heard that agency worker Jamie Barsby was lucky to be alive after the incident at The Sandwich Factory Holdings Ltd on the Carlyon Road Industrial Estate in Atherstone on 29 July 2012 (HSE)
  4. Unfair dismissal case rejected by judge – A manager who complained he was unfairly dismissed has lost his legal claim. Andrew Collins denied revealing confidential information about a £3 million contract to a potential coach and bus competitor (The Nottingham Post)
  5. BBC producer loses discrimination claim over sacking following reluctance to broadcast Prince George birth report – A BBC World Service journalist sacked after he declined to put a report of the birth of Prince George out on a Sri Lankan news service has lost a tribunal claim for race discrimination. Chandana Bandara lost his job on 15 August 2014 and claimed he was unfairly targeted because of his belief that the Tamil people of Sri Lanka have been persecuted by the Sinhala-dominant government (The Press Gazette)
  6. ‘Whistleblower’ takes council to tribunal after claiming ‘unfair dismissal’ – A former finance chief will take Bournemouth council to an employment tribunal next week, alleging she was “unfairly constructively dismissed” for acting as a “whistleblower.” The tribunal at Southampton will look at the circumstances surrounding the departure of Liz Wilkinson, who was paid more than £100,000 a year as the borough’s executive director for finance and Section 151 officer (The Bournemouth Echo)
  7. Transport company in court over driver’s death – A Norfolk-based road transport company has been sentenced for safety failings after a driver suffered life-changing injuries and later died following an incident in Broxbourne, Herts (HSE)
  8. ‘It was a witch hunt’: Social worker who won unfair dismissal case speaks out – When the verdict of “unfair dismissal” first came, it took a while for it to sink in for Graham Hennis. The mental health social worker has been fighting a two-and-a-half year legal battle against Oldham council to clear his name. Hennis was blamed when a man in his care fell to his death from a bridge. Despite the coroner finding no evidence the man intended to end his life, and therefore could not have been prevented from doing so, the council accused Hennis of gross negligence and removed him from his post (Community Care)
  9. Four Ex-Citigroup Currency Traders Sue Bank for Unfair Dismissal – Four former Citigroup Inc. currency traders are suing the bank for unfair dismissal after they were let go amid a global probe into foreign-exchange rate rigging. Carly McWilliams, Perry Stimpson, David Madaras and Robert Hoodless have all filed claims in a London employment tribunal, according to the court. The group have hearings scheduled between August and November, a court spokeswoman said (Bloomberg)