Employment law stories in the news – 02.07.2018 to 08.07.2018

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 July and 8 July 2018

  1. Taxpayer on hook for £750m if MoJ loses judicial pensions case – The Ministry of Justice may have to fork out up to £750m if it loses a longstanding dispute over pension provision for fee-paid part-time judges (The Law Society Gazette)
  2. Back pay worth £1.44m owed to thousands of UK workers, official figures show – Ten professional sports clubs, the Odeon cinema chain and the Navy, Army and Air Force Institute (Naafi) have been named and shamed by the government as being among more than 200 employers that have failed to pay workers the national minimum wage (The Guardian)
  3. BBC cuts gender pay gap to 7.6% -The BBC has reduced its median gender pay gap from 9.3% to 7.6%. The corporation has also reduced its mean pay gap from 10.7% to 8.4% (BBC)
  4. Ex-Carillion workers sue over GCHQ transfer – A group of former Carillion employees working at GCHQ, where Britain eavesdrops on the world, have launched a legal action over their treatment (The Construction Index)
  5. Company fined after workers suffer serious leg injuries – An engineering company was sentenced today after two employees were seriously injured during work to dispose of old gas cylinders at the company’s site in Hull (HSE)
  6. BBC apologises to Carrie Gracie over pay – The BBC has apologised to news presenter Carrie Gracie for underpaying her and says it “has now put this right” by giving her back pay (BBC)
  7. Deliveroo couriers win six-figure payout in employment rights case – A group of 50 Deliveroo couriers will share a six-figure payout from the takeaway delivery firm in a settlement of an employment rights claim. The riders, who were represented by the law firm Leigh Day, argued that they had been unlawfully denied rights, including the legal minimum wage and paid holiday, after being labelled self-employed contractors (The Guardian)
  8. Flying instructor whose boss threw cup of tea at him awarded £19,000 – A flying instructor whose boss threw a cup of tea at him in a dispute over an aircraft has been awarded more than £19,000, after an employment tribunal found he was unfairly and wrongfully dismissed (People Management)
  9. Ex-EFG banker claims dismissal was linked to whistleblowing – A senior banker is suing EFG Private Bank in an employment tribunal case claiming he was unfairly dismissed after raising whistleblowing concerns about alleged weaknesses in the bank’s controls and systems for dealing with high-risk transactions (Financial Times)
  10. Woman baited and harassed by married male colleague wins sex harassment claim – A transport worker baited and harassed by a married colleague who brushed his hands over her breasts as he gave her ‘bear hugs’ has won a sex harassment claim (The London Economic)