Employment law stories in the news – 03.02.2020 to 09.02.2020

In the lastest of our series on employment law stories in the news, we take a look at ten employment law stories that have made headlines between 3 February 2020 and 9 February 2020

  1. Firm sacked paralegal days after emergency bowel surgery – A Birmingham firm who dismissed a worker within days of him leaving hospital post-surgery have been found in breach of employment law by a tribunal (The Law Society Gazette)
  2. Jaguar Land Rover worker was unfairly sacked after complaining that exhaust fumes at factory were making him ill – A Jaguar Land Rover worker was unfairly sacked after a complaining that the exhaust fumes from cars on the production line were making him ill (The Daily Mail)
  3. Company director not allowed to retract his ‘heat of the moment’ resignation was unfairly dismissed, tribunal finds – A managing director has won a claim of unfair dismissal against a company he founded after his fellow bosses accepted a resignation made in anger and terminated his employment hours after he stormed out of a meeting (People Management)
  4. Union claims job agencies exploiting apprenticeship levy rules – Employment agencies are acting unlawfully regarding the funding of workplace training and exploiting a loophole in the UK government’s levy to finance apprenticeships to reduce their overheads, one of Britain’s biggest unions has claimed (The Financial Times)
  5. Bolton joiner ‘sacked at diabetes clinic’ wins equality claim – A joiner who was sacked while attending a diabetes appointment has won an equality claim against his former bosses. Self-employer contractor Barry Killeen insists he told his foreman he was leaving early, from a house refurbishment project in Bolton, as his blood sugar had dropped to “dangerously low” levels and required treatment (This Is Lancashire)
  6. Engineering company fined after employee fall – An engineering company has been fined after a 31-year-old employee fell through a hole in a mezzanine floor during construction work being carried out in Bristol (HSE)
  7. Hero paramedic claims IT glitches led to her sacking – An award-winning paramedic has taken the Scottish Ambulance Service to an employment tribunal, claiming IT glitches led to her being sacked (The Times)
  8. NDAs cannot be used to silence sexual harassment claims, says Acas – Non-disclosure agreements cannot be used to prevent employees reporting sexual harassment to a colleague or to the police, Acas has set out in new guidance (The Law Society Gazette)
  9. Tribunal to be held for dismissed Swansea University academics – An employment tribunal will hold a hearing about the dismissal of academics at Swansea University. Two of the members of staff involved have had their appeal against dismissal rejected by the university (BBC)
  10. Company fined after employee suffers partial amputation of fingers – A food ingredients manufacturer based in Lincolnshire was fined after one of its employees suffered partial amputation of the four fingers on his right hand after it came into contact with the rotating vanes of a rotary valve (HSE)