Employment law stories in the news – 13.07.2015 to 19.07.2015

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 news between 13 July and 19 July 2015

  1. Fringe actors lose minimum wage case – A group of actors have lost an employment tribunal case after claiming they should be paid the minimum wage for appearing in a fringe theatre play. The five performers starred in David Edgar’s Pentecost in an 80-seat east London church in 2012 (BBC)
  2. ‘A miracle he was not killed’ says judge as logistics firm fined £75,000 – A logistics firm was fined £75,000 after a worker suffered life-changing injuries in a fall from a roof. Andrew Bannister, who had worked for PK & IF Cobley Limited for 15 years, was worried about being sent up onto a fragile roof to repair cracks in it, but he was still instructed to do the work (HSE)
  3. Roofing contractor and director fined over brick-layer death – A Yorkshire roofing firm and its Director have been prosecuted after a worker fell to his death though a fragile roof-light. Barry Tyson, a 52 year old self-employed brick-layer, suffered fatal head injuries as a result of the fall whilst he was working to refurbish the flat roof of Aspin Park School in Knaresborough (HSE)
  4. Three Shropshire Sainsbury’s workers leading battle for equal pay – The store is facing legal action from four female shopfloor workers who claim they are paid less than men to do equally valuable jobs at the supermarket chain. The case, which will be the subject of a preliminary hearing at a Birmingham employment tribunal on Friday, comes as a similar legal action involving 6,000 female Asda employees remains to be settled (The Shropshire Star)
  5. Academic takes Bristol to tribunal over ‘grant income sacking’ – A former lecturer at the University of Bristol has lodged an employment tribunal case against her dismissal for allegedly not securing enough grant income. Alison Hayman had been a lecturer in connective tissue biology since 2000 before being dismissed last October. In a statement written for her reinstatement campaign – whose associated petition has attracted 1,800 signatures – she says that she was happy to remain a lecturer but was required to apply for promotion when she reached the top of the pay scale for lecturers (The Times Higher Education Supplement)
  6. Morrisons employee accused of leaking data on 100,000 supermarket staff because he bore a “grudge” against company – A Morrisons employee from Liverpool posted sensitive, personal data relating to almost 100,000 of the supermarket’s staff on the internet and sent it to newspapers due to a “grudge”, a jury has been told. Prosecutors said Andrew Skelton, 43, leaked the information in response to a warning he was given after the company found out he used the mail room at Morrison’s HQ, in Bradford, West Yorkshire, to send out eBay packages (The Liverpool Echo)
  7. Trade Union Bill: Ministers deny ‘attack on workers’ rights’ – Ministers have defended plans to tighten the rules on strike ballots after unions said they would make legal strikes “almost impossible”. Under current rules all that is needed for a strike is a simple majority of those that take part in a ballot (BBC)
  8. EOR survey shows a 77% increase in discrimination compensation – Equal Opportunities Review have published the results of their survey of discrimination cases filed by the Employment Tribunal Service in Bury St Edmunds, as well as cases sent to them by individual lawyers and employment judges. The survey covers awards made in England and Wales in which the remedies judgment was promulgated in 2014. The survey is widely regarded as probably the most accurate indicator of trends. A summary of key findings is set out below (The HR Director)
  9. Barrister loses racial discrimination claim against MoJ – A barrister employed by HM Courts and Tribunal Service has lost a claim that he was racially discriminated against by being moved to another court ‘under a cloud’. Appealing an employment tribunal ruling, Haras Ahmed alleged racial discrimination after he was targeted in an investigation into fraud at the magistrates’ court where he was working (The Law Society Gazette)
  10. David Cameron to force companies to disclose gender pay gaps – Large companies will finally be forced to disclose whether they are paying men more than women from next year, David Cameron will say on Tuesday. In a move that has long been resisted by businesses and parts of the Conservative party, the prime minister will bring forward rules by the first half of next year to make companies with more than 250 workers disclose the pay gap in their workplaces (The Guardian)