Employment law stories in the news – 07.12.2020 to 13.12.2020

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 7 December 2020 and 13 December 2020

1. Christian charity found to have unfairly dismissed a senior manager says it will appeal – A Christian charity has said it will appeal a tribunal decision that it unfairly dismissed a senior staff member for whistleblowing (Third Sector)
2. Worker who found racially charged messages in work WhatsApp group was harassed, tribunal rules – An operations clerk was the victim of harassment because of her sex, race and religious belief after finding explicit messages in a WhatsApp group used by her co-workers, a tribunal has ruled (People Management)
3. Government accused of ignoring crisis in employment tribunal – The government has allocated just 4% of its courts recovery money to tribunals despite outstanding caseloads reaching unprecedented levels this year (The Law Society Gazette)
4. Researcher who raised driving time safety concern unfairly dismissed – A senior employee at a Christian charity was unfairly dismissed after he raised health and safety concerns about the time he was required to spend driving on a work trip, an employment tribunal has found (Personnel Today)
5. Boris Johnson faces legal challenge for clearing Priti Patel of bullying – A legal challenge has been launched against Boris Johnson’s decision to clear Priti Patel of bullying despite advice that she had breached the ministerial code (The Guardian)
6. Female executive, 59, wins £60,000 payout after she was sacked by yacht-owning, golf-playing ‘macho boys’ club’ that ran her firm – as tribunal judge rules ageism is worse for women than men – Sue Coulson, 59, won the compensation from Plymouth housing company RentPlus following an employment tribunal which heard she had sexual discrimination (Daily Mail)
7. East Lothian GP sacked while caring for dying father donates compensation to Marie Curie – A Scottish GP who was sacked while caring for her dying father has donated the compensation money she was awarded to end of life charity Marie Curie, which supported her father in his last weeks (The Scotsman)
8. Ex-jail boss claims prison service discriminated against her for being a lesbian – The former boss of an open prison is now suing the service over claims she was discriminated against because she is a lesbian (The Mirror)
9. Female gym workers whose boss claimed women shouldn’t be managers because they ‘just ramble on’ win £20,000 payout – Kris Whitelaw told Sophie Veitch that women ‘just go off on a tangent’ and said if he was in charge things would be run differently (The Daily Mail)
10. Tribunal rules women more likely to become victims of ageism after awarding executive £64k – Sue Coulson won the compensation after being fired for not being part of the “macho boys’ club” that ran her firm (The Express)