Employment law cases in the news – 19.10.2015 to 25.10.2015

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 have made headlines between 19 October 2015 and 25 October 2015

  1. Teacher who accused colleagues of helping pupils to cheat in exams takes school to tribunal after being sacked – A teacher who was sacked after accusing colleagues of helping pupils to cheat in exams has taken her former school to an employment tribunal. Spanish teacher Elena Isherwood claims she was unfairly dismissed by Sale Grammar School after making allegations of exam malpractice in the modern foreign languages department (The Mirror)
  2. Engineering and facilities firms sentenced – Two companies have been sentenced for safety failings after a worker was electrocuted during work on a data centre in Middlesex. Balfour Beatty Engineering Services Ltd (BBES) was contracted to carry out multi-million pound infrastructure upgrade works at the data centre in Hounslow, while Norland Managed Services Ltd (NMS) were already contracted to provide mechanical and electrical maintenance and had effective control of the site (HSE)
  3. Grave bosses dug up bones to re-sell plots to grieving families, tribunal told – Two gravediggers are suing cemetery bosses over claims they were ordered to dig up skeletons so managers could sell the used plots to grieving families as new. Whistleblowers Duncan Coverdale and Peter Samuels claim staff were “picking up skulls” in old graves to make way for recently buried coffins (The Mirror)
  4. Coventry Royal Mail worker sacked after allegedly waving replica guns around – A Parcelforce operative was sacked after denying he handled two pistols like a cowboy gunslinger, pointing one gun at a colleague’s chest and causing another to look down its barrel. Paul Mason, of Allesley, Coventry was alleged to have waved the pistols about from a make-believe holster after the guns came out of a parcel at the Coventry sorting hub, Birmingham Employment Tribunal was told (Coventry Telegraph)
  5. Age discrimination: Former Dunnes worker awarded £40,000 – A Northern Ireland woman who claimed Dunnes Stores discriminated against her because of her age has been awarded £40,000 in settlement. Gloria Dunbar had worked as a security manager for Dunnes (Bangor Ltd) since 2005 (BBC)
  6. Driver nets £31k for unfair dismissal over Scots workload – A delivery driver who claims he was treated in an “almost inhumane” way by his boss has been awarded almost £31,000 at an employment tribunal. Jesse Meredith, 29, told his manager at global company Harvey and Brockless that extra deliveries taking him all over the country might not be possible during one working day (The Press and Journal)
  7. North-east council worker “forced” into quitting job, a tribunal hears – A north-east council worker has claimed he was forced into quitting the job he loved because of “unfair” and “unnecessary” pressure from his bosses. Stephen Paterson was signed off work with stress when he was let go by Aberdeenshire Council in April (The Press and Journal)
  8. Former News UK head of security settles employment tribunal – and withdraws promise of ‘shock’ revelations – News International’s former head of security has withdrawn his threat to make “shock” revelations about his former employer after settling an employment tribunal. Last month, Mark Hanna promised to expose “underhand” goings-on involving Rebekah Brooks and Rupert Murdoch in a Youtube video (The Press Gazette)
  9. High-flying banker ‘was fired from Barclays so his boss could take credit for his £51.5million idea and boost his own bonus’ – A high-flying banker claims he was fired so his boss could take the credit for his idea to save Barclays £51.5 million and boost his own bonus, an employment tribunal heard today. Milko Ostendorf worked for Barclays Capital Services in 2010 when he claims he came up with a genius solution to a dispute between the firm and a client over a £51.48m fee (The Daily Mail)