Employment law stories in the news – 02.08.2021 to 08.08.2021

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 2 August 2021 and 8 August 2021

1. Legal assistant sacked over Facebook jokes about Jimmy Savile and Muslim attacks – A legal assistant has been sacked over Facebook posts about Jimmy Savile’s sex crimes and attacks on Muslims, a tribunal heard (Evening Standard)
2. Strike actress wins £11k payout in pregnancy discrimination case – An actress has won a pregnancy discrimination case after being dropped from a minor role in a TV adaptation of one of JK Rowling’s crime novels. Antonia Kinlay appeared in the 2018 adaptation of Career of Evil and had expected to return in the follow-up (BBC)
3. Cleveland Police face payout after young officer had a stroke – only to be shown the door – A young policeman suffered a devastating stroke – only to be shown the door by Cleveland Police. Student officer Jordan Miller was less than a fortnight into the job when a hemorrhagic stroke left him in hospital, causing “significant” vision issues while he repeatedly suffered seizures in the following months (Gazette Live)
4. Paul Embery: Pro-Brexit fire union official unfairly sacked, tribunal finds – A firefighter was unfairly dismissed from his union job after speaking at a pro-Brexit rally in Westminster, an employment tribunal has found. Paul Embery was also barred from being a Fire Brigades Union (FBU) official for two years after appearing at the Leave Means Leave rally in March 2019 (BBC)
5. Sellafield ‘whistleblower’ has employment claim dismissed – A diversity consultant who claimed she was sacked after highlighting alleged bullying and harassment at a nuclear site has lost her employment tribunal (BBC)
6. Judge warns of ‘hypersensitivity’ in lawyer’s harassment claim – An employment judge has dismissed claims that a lawyer was repeatedly harassed and discriminated against, warning that courts should not ‘impose legal liability to every unfortunate phrase’ (The Law Society Gazette)
7. National Gallery worker who sued her bosses for racism after they asked her to wear a badge showing she could speak Arabic loses her tribunal claim – A National Gallery worker who claimed she was racially discriminated against after being asked to wear a badge to show visitors she could speak Arabic has had her case dismissed by an employment tribunal (Daily Mail)
8. Tetraplegic pupil was no publicity stunt, tribunal rules – The employment tribunal has rejected claims that a firm offered to take on a tetraplegic pupil as a publicity stunt, finding that it genuinely wanted to help him become a barrister (The Law Society Gazette)
9. Sunbed salon worker fired because she used to have skin cancer wins pay out – A tanning salon worker sacked because she used to have skin cancer has successfully sued her boss. Sofi Lorimer quit her twice a week sunbed habit after having 15 operations to remove tumours when diagnosed with malignant melanoma in 2015, an employment tribunal heard (Metro)
10. Born-again Christian police officer who claimed he was mocked by colleagues who called him ‘Father Ted’ and told him the Bible is a ‘pile of nonsense’ loses his religious discrimination claim – A police officer who claimed he was mocked by colleagues who called him Father Ted and told him the Bible is a ‘pile of nonsense’ has lost his religious discrimination claim (Daily Mail)