Employment law stories in the news – 01.03.2021 to 07.03.2021

In the latest of our series of posts on employment law stories in the news we take a look at ten employment law stories that have made headlines between 1 March 2021 and 7 March 2021

  1. Farm shop manager wins £17,000 payout after boss called her an ‘old woman’ – An experienced shop manager has won more than £17,000 after her boss called her an ‘old woman’ (The Mirror)
  2. Landmark legal bid aims to get unpaid tribunal pay-outs honoured – A charity worker who was awarded £75,000 by an employment tribunal but never received a penny has launched a landmark legal challenge at the UK’s highest court calling for better enforcement of payouts (Herald Scotland)
  3. Priti Patel settles civil servant bullying case with £340,000 payout – Home secretary Priti Patel has avoided the need for a bullying case against her to go to employment tribunal by settling it. The agreement reached, according to various sources was that Sir Philip Rutnam will receive £340,000 plus his legal costs. Rutnam, a former chief civil servant at the Home Office, has now dropped the case (Personnel Today)
  4. Employee unlawfully dismissed for covert surveillance of employer – In a twist from the usual scenario, a recent EAT decision finds that the dismissal of an employee who set up a secret camera was unfair (The HR Director)
  5. Barnsley surgeon wins appeal over ‘sexual behaviour’ tribunal – A consultant found to have acted in an “inappropriate and sexually motivated” way towards female hospital staff by a tribunal has won an appeal (BBC)
  6. Tribunal orders BPP to pay disabled former law lecturer £168k – A former employment law lecturer with BPP University has been awarded £168,000 by an employment tribunal after a finding that she was constructively unfairly dismissed (The Law Society Gazette)
  7. NHS executive who was fired after complaining her colleagues ‘kept breathing on her’ was unfairly dismissed, tribunal rules – An NHS executive who was fired after complaining her colleagues kept ‘breathing on her’ was unfairly dismissed, a tribunal has found. Gifty Poku was also accused of ‘regularly and repeatedly’ blowing air back at members of staff who she thought were exhaling heavily near her (The Daily Mail)
  8. Gay academic was unfairly dismissed from Oxford Islamic Centre but not due to his sexuality, tribunal rules – A gay academic was unfairly dismissed from the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies but not because of his sexuality, an employment tribunal has ruled (The Telegraph)
  9. Surgeon who accidentally set patient on fire during procedure was unfairly dismissed, tribunal rules – A surgeon who accidentally set a patient on fire during an operation was unfairly dismissed, a tribunal has ruled, after a protracted series of hearings and appeals (People Management)
  10. Pedriatic nurse blew the whistle on race-based shift work – In the case of Miss J Panahian-Jand v Barts Health NHS Trust a paediatric nurse who complained about alleged racial discrimination and was banned from booking shifts as a result has been awarded £26,000 in compensation by an employment tribunal (The HR Director)