Employment law stories in the news – 12.04.2021 to 18.04.2021

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 made headlines between 12 April 2021 and 18 April 2021

  1. Married City exec who was sacked for making ‘sleazy’ drunken pass at junior colleague he told was a ‘7 out of 10’ fails in bid to overturn unfair dismissal – A married City executive who was sacked for making a ‘sleazy’ drunken pass at a junior colleague he told was a ‘7 out of 10’ has failed in his bid to overturn an unfair dismissal (The Daily Mail)
  2. Office manager denied remote working because boss ‘knew what was best for her’ awarded £60k at tribunal – Mum who wanted to work by son’s hospital bed was constructively unfairly dismissed and directly discriminated against on the grounds of sex, court rules (People Management)
  3. Older white people who use term ‘coloured’ are not necessarily racist, judge rules – Older white people who use the term “coloured” are not necessarily racist as they have not had “multicultural acquaintances”, a judge has ruled (The Telegraph)
  4. BT ordered to pay £80K to former employee who took race and sexism claim to tribunal – BT has been forced to compensate a former employee after job offers she secured were withdrawn and instead awarded to white men (Bristol Post)
  5. Lord Ranger called worker who feared abuse a ‘silly girl’ – A Conservative peer victimised a female employee by calling her a “scumbag”, “silly girl” and “proper quarrelsome woman” after she complained of workplace harassment (The Sunday Times)
  6. Thousands in UK may have missed out on work rights redress, study finds – A four-year policy of charging workers up to £1,200 to take law-breaking bosses to court was based on misleading data, a study has found, meaning thousands of people may have wrongly missed out on redress for breaches of employment rights (The Guardian)
  7. JPMorgan sued by London trader fired over spoofing claim – A former JPMorgan Chase & Co trader who was fired over a spoofing allegation said he was only dismissed because the bank wanted to “appease” US regulators following a scandal that cost the bank close to US$1 billion in penalties (The Edge Markets)
  8. Barclays banker given £10k pay-out in toilet access case – A banker who has Crohn’s disease has been awarded £9,692 after an employment tribunal found that his employer failed to make reasonable adjustments by not improving his proximity to toilet facilities (Personnel Today)
  9. Man who said ‘girls in short skirts are inviting rape’ wins unfair dismissal – A man who said girls who wear short skirts are inviting rape should not have been fired, a tribunal has ruled. Raja Minhas, 44, was promoting Sky products with Mia Klemetti at a shopping centre stand on June 6, 2019 (Metro)
  10. Salesperson asked ‘can I get you pregnant?’ wins sex discrimination claim – A salesperson at a courier firm who was subjected to ‘demeaning’ and explicit sexual comments has won her claim for sex discrimination, harassment and constructive dismissal at an employment tribunal (Personnel Today)