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
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)