Employment law stories in the news – 05.11.2018 to 11.11.2018

In the latest of our series of posts on employment law stories in the news, we take a look at ten employment law-related cases that have made headlines between 5 November 2018 and 11 November 2018

  1. Care Home Worker Accused Of Raping Colleague Awarded £15,000 Payout – A care home worker accused of raping a colleague and sexually assaulting two others was awarded £15,000 compensation after he was sacked following a “woefully inadequate” investigation (Huffington Post)
  2. Leonard Cheshire Disability wins legal fight after discrimination complaint – A charity which provides care for disabled people and was founded by Second World War bomber pilot Leonard Cheshire has won a tribunal fight after a dyslexic former manager made a disability discrimination allegation (Express and Star)
  3. Disabled BT engineer awarded £8,000 after receiving offensive ‘pocket call’ from manager – A disabled BT engineer won £8,000 in compensation after a “pocket dial” allowed him to hear a manager’s offensive tirade about his condition. Paul Tribe, a 54-year-old fibre optic joiner, was described as a “b*********r” by Openreach operations manager Wayne Read, who was unaware he had accidentally called his colleague (The Telegraph)
  4. Woman who was spied on by employer wins race discrimination case – A woman who was spied on by her employer and denied the opportunity to progress in her career because she is black has won her claim of race discrimination, victimisation and harassment against Richemont (UK), which owns luxury brands including Cartier and Montblanc (Personnel Today)
  5. Lord chancellor takes judicial pensions battle to Court of Appeal – More than 200 judges are taking on the government in court today as it attempts to overturn a ruling that the lord chancellor discriminated against them with his pension reforms (The Times)
  6. Employment tribunal fees may be resurrected, MoJ confirms – The Ministry of Justice has confirmed it may reintroduce fees for employment tribunal claims, insisting it can find a balance that helps fund the court system while being ‘proportionate and progressive’ (The Law Society Gazette)
  7. HMP Nottingham whistleblower loses employment tribunal – A former prison officer who claimed she was unfairly dismissed after speaking out about violence and drugs at HMP Nottingham has lost her tribunal. The tribunal panel dismissed Diane Ward’s claim of unfair dismissal and detriment done on the grounds of making protected disclosures (BBC)
  8. Employee who suffered racist insult from contractor awarded £26,000 for discrimination – The employer of a man who felt unable to return to work after a co-worker shouted a racist remark at him in a corridor was guilty of racial discrimination for failing to adequately investigate his complaints, a tribunal has ruled (People Management)
  9. Female primary school teacher sexually assaulted male colleague at parents’ evening, tribunal told – A female primary school teacher sexually assaulted her male colleague after ripping open his shirt at a parent’s evening, a tribunal was told (The Telegraph)
  10. TaxPayers’ Alliance concedes it launched smears against Brexit whistleblower – The rightwing pressure group the TaxPayers’ Alliance has conceded that it illegally sacked the whistleblower Shahmir Sanni for revealing unlawful overspending in the Brexit referendum campaign, in a case that could have a major impact on how lobbyists are described in the media (The Guardian)