Employment law stories in the news – 11.08.2014 to 17.08.2014

redmans-blog-newsIn the latest of our series of posts in the news this week, we take a look at ten employment law stories that have made headlines between 11 August and 17 August 2014.

  1. Junior doctors at Arrowe Park receive £38,000 payout after BMA rules on pay and working hours – A group of junior doctors at a Merseyside hospital are to share a payout of almost £40,000 after it was revealed they had been underpaid and unable to take natural breaks (The Liverpool Echo)
  2. Unison to ballot NHS Wales members on pay – Thousands of Unison members who work for NHS Wales are to be balloted for industrial action, including strikes. The vote in October is in response to the £160 one-off payment in lieu of a rise, it said (BBC)
  3. Redundancy payouts fall for first time since 2008 – The total cost of redundancy payouts for UK companies has fallen for the first time since the recession, according to a report by commercial law firm EMW and HMRC (HR Magazine)
  4. 40% of managers avoid hiring younger women to get around maternity leave – A third of managers would rather employ a man in his 20s or 30s over a woman of the same age for fear of maternity leave, according to a new study (The Guardian)
  5. Civil service pay scheme linked to age was discriminatory, finds ECJ – The ECJ has determined in a recent court case that a German civil service pay scheme that determined level of pay by reference to age at time of recruitment was discriminatory (Personnel Today)
  6. Sports Direct zero hour contracts ‘stop 20,000 staff taking other work’ – Billionaire Mike Ashley is today revealed as the biggest employer to use the soon-to-be illegal “zero hour” contracts that potentially stop the 20,000 part-time staff at his retail empire getting a second job (The Evening Standard)
  7. Union claims National Library of Wales in ‘turmoil’ on eve of high-profile employment tribunal – The trade union for top civil servants claims the National Library of Wales is in turmoil over the treatment of two highly respected members of staff who were demoted after technical errors were identified in the awarding of a contract (Wales Online)
  8. Stonehaven firm fined £240,000 after driver crushed to death – A Stonehaven animal feed company has been fined £240,000 after a lorry driver was crushed to death when a two-tonnes, fully-loaded grain bin fell onto him from a forklift truck (HSE)
  9. Fire centre supervisor sacked for sexual harassment – A supervisor at the Limerick Fire Service who was sacked after a sexual harassment investigation has failed in an unfair dismissal action. Jon Monnickendam was dismissed for gross misconduct by Limerick City Council in October 2011 following an independent investigation (Limerick Leader)
  10. New mothers facing ‘maternity discrimination’ on their return to the workplace – One in 10 women in low-paid work is demoted when she returns from maternity leave, according to research that reveals the scale of discrimination against new mothers and the difficulty of challenging it (The Independent)