Employment law stories in the news – 12.02.2018 to 18.02.2018

In the latest of our series of posts on employment law stories in the news we take a look at ten employment law-related stories that have made headlines between 12 February 2018 and 18 February 2018

  1. Child protection checks on youth rugby coaches ‘not taken seriously’ – Dozens of unregistered coaches may have been allowed to take charge of young rugby teams without fully completing child protection checks under the former head of the youth game in Scotland, it has emerged (The Scotsman)
  2. Cop vows to fight on after losing £900k compensation claim against Police Scotland – A police officer who lost a £900,000 compensation claim against her force is to appeal the verdict. Amanda Daly claimed she was targeted by senior officers after complaining about the controversial former Counter Corruption Unit (The Daily Record)
  3. Shared parental leave take-up may be as low as 2% – A new publicity drive is aiming to encourage higher take-up of shared parental leave. Around 285,000 couples are eligible every year for shared parental leave, but take-up “could be as low as 2%”, the Department for Business said (BBC)
  4. Manufacturing company fined after worker’s hand was partially severed – A manufacturing company based in Gloucester has been fined after an incident at its site resulted in Petr Jelinek having his fingers and part of his palm severed (HSE)
  5. Workplace sexual harassment inquiry launched by Women and Equalities Committee – An influential government committee has announced that it is launching a new inquiry into sexual harassment in the workplace and how misconduct can be tackled more effectively, amid a slew of public cases and complaints in recent months (The Independent)
  6. Transgender Primark checkout girl wins £50k compo over toilet humiliation -A transgender checkout girl has won £50,000 compensation from Primark after colleagues humiliated her in the loo. Alexandra de Souza was christened Alexander but had been dressing as a woman for 15 years when she got a job at the fashion chain (The Sun)
  7. Banker failed to discipline colleague caught having sex in night club toilet because he was having an affair with her, tribunal hears – A  banker was sacked after he failed to adequately discipline two colleagues allegedly caught having sex in a Covent Garden nightclub, a tribunal has heard. George Eleftheriou, who was dismissed without notice denied an affair with the female colleague involved in the incident (The Telegraph)
  8. Scottish Police Authority accused of “sizeable” misuse of funds by whistleblowing staff member – A whistleblower at the Scottish Police Authority has accused the watchdog of a misuse of public funds, the Sunday Herald can reveal. Details of the claims remain under wraps after the SPA applied for an anonymity order at an employment tribunal, however, it is claimed that the funds in question are ‘sizeable’ (The Herald Scotland)
  9. Cop vows to fight on after losing £900k compensation claim against Police Scotland – A police officer who lost a £900,000 compensation claim against her force is to appeal the verdict. Amanda Daly claimed she was targeted by senior officers after complaining about the controversial former Counter Corruption Unit (The Daily Record)
  10. Union hails victory in fight against “parasitic” payroll and job agency companies that exploit construction workers – Unite the Union vows to fight “to ensure that other workers are not denied their basic employment rights” (The Mirror)