Employment law stories in the news – 11.05.2019 to 17.05.2019

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 11 May 2019 and 17 May 2019

  1. Building firm fined after worker injured – Stan England Builders Limited has been fined following an incident when a worker suffered serious injuries after falling from a mezzanine level and wooden platform (HSE)
  2. Senior NHS manager loses race discrimination case after tribunal finds boss’ use of phrase ‘cracking the whip’ referenced horse riding not slavery – A tribunal has thrown out claims by a former senior NHS manager that she was discriminated against when her boss used the phrase ‘cracking the whip’ in a team meeting (Daily Mail)
  3. Dominic Raab contradicts government’s own advice on returning to work – Foreign secretary Dominic Raab sowed further confusion for millions of British workers on Monday by repeatedly stating that those who could not work from home should begin to return to work from Wednesday (The Independent)
  4. Married maintenance man, 50, wins £21,000 compensation after much younger single mother pestered him for sex – A married man has won over £21,000 after a female colleague repeatedly pestered him for sex and threatened to get him fired if he complained (The Daily Mail)
  5. Sacked employees of shut down firm awarded £114k in total – A defunct Kent firm has been ordered to pay £114,000 to former employees after a string of employment law breaches (Law Society Gazette)
  6. Social worker on sick leave sacked after colleague caught her working at Tesco – A social worker who went off sick was sacked after a colleague caught her working at Tesco (The Mirror)
  7. Jess Varnish appeal in case against British Cycling to be heard next week – Jess Varnish’s employment tribunal appeal will be heard next week. Varnish lost her initial employment case against British Cycling in January 2019 (The Express and Star)
  8. Sensyne secret bonus review law firm denies conflict claim – The law firm that conducted a corporate governance review of Sensyne Health, the biotech company founded by Lord Drayson, is also advising it on an employment tribunal claim, raising questions over the independence of the review (The Times)
  9. Pregnant women and new mothers face redundancy during coronavirus crisis, warns Equality and Human Rights Commission – Pregnant women and new mothers face being made redundant during the coronavirus crisis due to being unfairly discriminated against, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has warned (The Independent)
  10. British Airways plans to make up to 12,000 staff redundant British Airways has set out plans to make up to 12,000 of its staff redundant because of the global collapse in air travel in the face of the coronavirus pandemic (The Guardian)