Employment law stories in the news – 11.01.2016 to 17.01.2016

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 11 January 2016 and 17 January 2016

  1. Private messages at work can be read by European employers – Employers can read workers’ private messages sent via chat software and webmail accounts during working hours, judges have ruled. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said a firm that read a worker’s Yahoo Messenger chats sent while he was at work was within its rights (BBC)
  2. Company fined after worker falls from van roof – A glazing firm was fined after a worker fell from the roof of a van, causing severe head injuries. On 19 June 2012, Alan Campbell, who worked for Anglian Windows Limited, fell when loading an easi-dec system onto the roof of the van after working at a domestic property at Linlithgow (HSE)
  3. Jeremy Corbyn to confront big business over living wage – Jeremy Corbyn will show he is ready for battle with big business as he proposes barring companies from distributing dividends unless they pay the living wage, and putting in place salary curbs to stop bosses being paid many times more than workers (The Guardian)
  4. Penalties for zero hours contract exclusivity clauses come into force – Workers now have the right to make an employment tribunal claim where their employer punishes them for breaching an exclusivity clause in a zero hours contract (Personnel Today)
  5. Employment tribunal finds in favour of Bournemouth BC – Former finance director has lost a tribunal claim against Bournemouth BC after she accused her former employers of forcing her out. Liz Wilkinson, who resigned as executive director for finance in 2014, claimed she was constructively dismissed by Bournemouth BC after raising questions about the local authority’s outsourcing contract with Mouchel (Local Gov)
  6. Trojan Horse tribunal rejects Muslim teaching assistants’ unfair dismissal claims – An employment tribunal involving a school at the heart of the Trojan Horse affair has ended with judges upholding a claim for unfair dismissal by one teaching assistant while rejecting related cases by her three Muslim colleagues (The Guardian)
  7. Red Hot Buffet is being taken to an employment tribunal by former workers – The under-fire Red Hot World Buffet is facing an employment tribunal amid accusations of sacking senior staff because of ‘race discrimination’, it is alleged. Four members of staff at the Liverpool restaurant have brought a complaint of racial discrimination after they lost their jobs in June last year (The Liverpool Echo)
  8. Firm fined after worker’s hand was caught in machinery – A Northampton luxury kitchen manufacturer, Bespoke in Oak Limited, was sentenced on 12 January 2016 after a worker had two fingers amputated following an industrial accident. The incident occurred on 31st October 2014 when the worker caught his dominant right hand on a revolving cutting block (HSE)
  9. Junior doctors’ strike: talks resume to avert next walkout – A fresh round of talks is due to take place place over the next two days in an effort to resolve a four-month dispute over a proposed new contract for junior doctors in England. Three hours after the first round of planned strikes ended on Tuesday, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) said negotiations would resume on Thursday at 10am and continue on Friday (The Guardian)
  10. NHS is stopping my return after tribunal victory, says surgeon – One of the UK’s biggest NHS trusts has been accused of a “cynical attempt” to block a pioneering transplant surgeon’s bid to return to work. Imperial College Healthcare began recruiting two doctors to replace Professor Nadey Hakim while his claim for unfair dismissal was being made to an employment tribunal (The Evening Standard)