Employment law stories in the news – 08.02.2021 to 14.02.2021

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 8 February 2021 and 14 February 2021

  1. Unfairly sacked teacher at Rose Hill prep school wins £140,000 damages – A teacher at a 200-year-old prep school has been awarded more than £140,000 in damages after she was unfairly sacked when parents complained about her qualifications (The Times)
  2. Michelin-starred chef wins unfair dismissal case after he was sacked for letting children play football during private party he hosted in restaurant of £4,500-a-night five-star Westbury hotel in Mayfair – A Michelin-starred chef who was sacked after he let children play a ‘silly’ game of football in the restaurant of a five star Mayfair hotel has won an unfair dismissal case (The Daily Mail)
  3. Tribunal finds legal ombudsman guilty of indirect sex discrimination – The Legal Ombudsman has agreed to pay damages to a staff member after a tribunal finding of indirect sex discrimination (The Law Society Gazette)
  4. Security officer accused of stealing from lost property was unfairly dismissed, tribunal rules – A security officer accused of stealing a wallet from lost property was unfairly dismissed because of his employer’s inadequate investigation, a tribunal has ruled (People Management)
  5. Charity executive told black employee she didn’t notice she was in the room because she was ‘so dark’ she was the same colour as chair she was sitting in, tribunal hears – A senior charity executive told a black employee she hadn’t noticed her in a room because she was the same colour as the chair she was sitting in, a tribunal has heard (The Daily Mail)
  6. Treasury scraps £95,000 cap on public sector pay-offs – The government is scrapping a cap of £95,000 on public sector redundancy payments, after court action by trade unions. Ministers say they are looking for new ways to tackle excessive pay-outs for higher earners (BBC)
  7. Solicitor who misled potential employer suspended indefinitely – A solicitor who twice misled a potential employer into believing he was still in a job – when in fact he had been sacked six months earlier – has been suspended indefinitely (Legal Futures)
  8. Employee who took cannabis for back pain unfairly dismissed – A recycling employee who failed a drugs test was unfairly dismissed, with an employment tribunal finding that his employer did not take into account his ‘unblemished’ service and his medical reasons for taking cannabis (Personnel Today)
  9. Surgeon sacked after patient was set alight wins £63,000 payout – A surgeon who was sacked after a patient was accidentally set on fire during an operation has been awarded £63,000 for racial discrimination and unfair dismissal (The Times)
  10. Employer acted unlawfully by disciplining union activist for use of its IT systems – University College London (UCL) has lost its appeal against an employment tribunal’s decision that it unlawfully disciplined a union activist for refusing to comply with an instruction to take down an email list that he had created for union communications (International Law Office)