Employment law stories in the news – 07.03.2016 to 13.03.2016

redmans-blog-newsIn 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 the news between 7 March and 13 March 2016

  1. Low-paid workers report sharp rise in ‘wage theft’ – Complaints about unscrupulous employers making unauthorised deductions from the wages of staff nearly doubled last year, new figures reveal. According to Citizens Advice, the trend in what it calls “wage theft” is particularly acute among casual workers such as cleaners and carers (The Guardian)
  2. Innocent explanation for Muslim prison chaplains’ lower pay – The existence of a non-discriminatory reason for Muslim prison chaplains being paid less than their Christian counterparts has defeated a discrimination claim (Personnel Today)
  3. NHS ordered to reinstate surgeon who performed the world’s first hand transplant after employment tribunal rules he was unfairly dismissed – A hospital trust found to have unfairly dismissed one of the world’s leading surgeons has been ordered to reinstate him within weeks. The employment judge’s ruling comes after the Mail and former patients campaigned for Professor Nadey Hakim, 57, who performed the world’s first hand transplant, to be given his job back (The Daily Mail)
  4. Restaurateur told to back down by High Court after obtaining ‘top secret’ documents from Jaguar Land Rover owners – A restaurateur who was “extremely aggrieved” not to be offered a job by a giant IT company has been ordered to back down by the High Court. Prashant Sengar owns the Spicy Affair restaurant in Leamington Spa, a favourite with hungry employees of Tata Consultancy Services Limited (The Coventry Telegraph)
  5. Junior doctors’ contract to be challenged in courts – The government’s new contract for junior doctors is to be challenged in the courts by a group of doctors and patients on the grounds of patient safety. The group have instructed Bindman’s LLP solicitors to investigate judicial review proceedings, which will centre on the detrimental impact of the proposed new contract on the safety patients as well as the stability of the NHS as a whole (The Guardian)
  6. Age discrimination: £63,000 for salesperson nicknamed “Gramps” – An employment tribunal awarded more than £63,000 for age discrimination to a salesperson who was nicknamed “Gramps” by his younger colleagues and later dismissed after customer complaints that he was “old fashioned” and “long in the tooth” (Personnel Today)
  7. Christian magistrate to sue Michael Gove over sacking for gay adoption stance – A Christian magistrate who was sacked after opposing adoption by gay parents on national television is planning to sue Michael Gove over the decision. Richard Page, who sat on the family bench in Kent, was struck off for his “biased and prejudiced” views, but insists his “motivation is to do what was right for the child” (The Daily Mail)