Employment law stories in the news – 02.03.2020 to 08.03.2020

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 2 March 2020 and 8 March 2020

1. ‘Threatening’ Philip Green ‘joked about murder’ and left former Topshop design chief terrified, she claims as she sues retail mogul – A former Topshop design chief is suing controversial boss Sir Philip Green claiming she was left terrified after he mentioned the word ‘murder’ when criticising the quality of her work (The Daily Mail)
2. Dumfries shop worker awarded £15,000 after employment tribunal – A Dumfriesshop worker who was made homeless after losing his job of 41 years has been awarded £15,000 by an employment tribunal (The Daily Record)
3. Oxford dean accused of failing to report child sexual assault claim – The head of a prestigious Oxford college has been accused of failing to disclose an allegation of sexual assault of a minor to police or safeguarding officials (The Guardian)
4. Number 10 sacks special adviser who called Dominic Cummings ‘unkind’ – A government special adviser who confronted Dominic Cummings over his “unkindness” towards ministerial aides has been removed from her post (The Independent)
5. Worker unfairly dismissed for pregnancy-related absences, tribunal rules – A debt drafter was discriminated against and unfairly dismissed after her boss fired her for absences caused by pregnancy-related illness, an employment tribunal has ruled (People Management)
6. Whistleblower nurse with spotless 38-year record was unfairly sacked after warning that crippling NHS staff workload had led to patient’s death, tribunal rules – A nurse with a spotless 38-year record was unfairly sacked after warning that the crippling workload on NHS staff had led to a patient’s death, a tribunal has ruled (The Daily Mail)
7. Ethical vegan hails ‘victory for animal protection’ after settling tribunal case – An “ethical vegan” has hailed his legal battle against his former employer as a “victory for animal protection”, after settling the case at an employment tribunal (Borehamwood Times)
8. High-flier ‘sacked because she didn’t drink with the lads’ – A businesswoman claimed she was sacked from a major FTSE 100 company because she did not want to talk about football and go out drinking with “the lads” (The Express)
9. Solicitor issues unprecedented proceedings against SRA – A solicitor who alleges he was harassed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority is bringing unprecedented proceedings against the regulator through the employment tribunal (The Law Society Gazette)
10. No 10 helping to smear top civil servants, says union leader – Boris Johnson has given a green light to ministers who wish to smear the reputations of top civil servants, a union leader has claimed, as a further allegation of unacceptable behaviour against the home secretary, Priti Patel, emerged on Sunday night (The Guardian)