Employment law stories in the news – 08.10.2018 to 14.10.2018

In the latest of our series of posts on employment law stories i the news, we take a look at seven employment law stories that have made headlines between 8 October 2018 and 14 October 2018

  1. Company fined after worker seriously injured when repairing machinery – A quarry operator has been fined after an employee had his hand and arm caught in a conveyor belt (HSE)
  2. Company director who helped manage Abu Dhabi Royal Family’s £5.5billion London property estate launches legal action ‘after he was sacked for looking after his terminally-ill wife’ – The director of a company that managed the Royal Family of Abu Dhabi’s £5.5bn Berkeley Square estate in London claims he was sacked after he went part time to nurse his terminally ill wife, a tribunal heard (The Mail Online)
  3. Council brings in barrister duo as equal-pay talks stall – Glasgow City Council has bolstered its equal-pay legal team with specialist employment counsel ahead of the long-running dispute potentially being transferred back to the Employment Tribunal in the coming months (Herald Scotland)
  4. Kitchen porter sacked by Gwynedd hotel wins disability discrimination claim – A kitchen porter with learning difficulties who was sacked by Seiont Manor hotel in Gwynedd has won an unfair dismissal claim. Andrew Pitts had worked at the Llanrug hotel for more than 20 years and his job was described as “his life” by his solicitor (Daily Post)
  5. Asda equal pay battle reaches Court of Appeal – Supermarket giant Asda is heading to the Court of Appeal in a long-running battle over equal pay. The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) decided last August that jobs in Asda stores were comparable to those in the firm’s distribution centres, upholding a previous ruling by the Employment Tribunal
  6. Builder sentenced after young worker seriously-injured – A builder from Cornwall has been sentenced after one of his employees sustained serious, life-changing hand injuries whilst operating a handheld circular saw (HSE)
  7. Man left brain damaged by boss’s punch wins legal fight – A sales manager who suffered catastrophic brain damage after an office Christmas party will receive damages in an appeal court ruling. Clive Bellman was hit by his boss, John Major, during a “heated discussion” in Northampton, in December 2011 (BBC)