Employment law stories in the news – 13.07.2020 to 19.07.2020

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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 has made headlines between 13 July 2020 and 19 July 2020

  1. ‘Ballbreaking’ female shipping lawyer wins sex discrimination case – A female lawyer has succeeded in claims of sex discrimination, victimisation and harassment against her former employer. Shipping solicitor Helena Biggs was an associate director at A Bilbrough & Co, a maritime insurance management company, from 2004 to 2018 (Roll on Friday)
  2. Gym boss told female employees that women shouldn’t be managers because they ‘just ramble on’ and ‘are too emotional’ – A gym boss told his female employees that women should not be managers because they ‘just ramble on’ and ‘are too emotional’, an employment tribunal heard (The Daily Mail)
  3. Jess Varnish loses appeal against British Cycling employment tribunal verdict – The former Great Britain track cyclist Jess Varnish has lost her employment tribunal appeal against British Cycling, which had threatened to alter the legal rights of elite athletes and the way they are funded by governing bodies (The Guardian)
  4. Chef sues House of Commons for £300k over ‘racist’ cartoon depicting him boiling in a vat of hot oil – A sacked chef is suing the House of Commons for £300,000 in a racism claim after he was allegedly handed a cartoon of himself in a pan of boiling oil (The Mail Online)
  5. Female Asda workers claim they were paid less than men ahead of landmark case – Judges will tomorrow hear a landmark legal claim by Asda workers – who say they were underpaid for years in spite of colleagues who did similar work earning more (The Mirror)
  6. Royal Mail loses appeal against agency worker decision – Royal Mail Group and Angard Staffing Solutions, a Royal Mail subsidiary that supplies workers to the mail carrier exclusively, have lost their appeal against the decision that a group of workers could be defined as agency workers and are entitled to the same employment rights as Royal Mail employees (Personnel Today)
  7. Furlough funds can be used for contractual notice periods – Funds claimed from the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme can be used to pay for notice periods that go above and beyond the statutory minimum (Personnel Today)
  8. Aberdeen beauty clinic ordered to pay sacked nurse more than £7,000 after being sued for wrongful dismissal – A north-east beauty clinic has been ordered to pay a sacked nurse more than £7,000 after being sued for wrongful dismissal (Press and Journal)
  9. HSBC banker who claimed she was forced out of her job after affair with married boss she nicknamed ‘Weinstein’ loses sexual discrimination case – A high-flying banker who claimed she was forced out of HSBC after having an affair with a married colleague is ‘unreliable and self-serving’ an employment tribunal ruled as they dismissed her case (Daily Mail)
  10. Fourth senior civil servant announces exit in six months – The permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice, Sir Richard Heaton, will stand down from his role this summer. Justice Secretary Robert Buckland praised him as “exceptional”, with the “strongest of reputations” (BBC)