Employment law stories in the news – 16.09.2019 to 22.09.2019

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 have made headlines between 16 September 2019 and 22 September 2019

  1. Postal worker discriminated against because of his ‘perceived religion’, tribunal rules – A postal worker was a victim of racial harassment, victimisation and discrimination even though comments made towards him were not directed towards his own religion, an employment tribunal (ET) has ruled (People Management)
  2. EV charge point pioneer wins £1m BP Chargemaster employment tribunal – An employment tribunal has found that electric vehicle (EV) charge point pioneer Calvey Taylor-Haw missed out on a £1m share option when he was unfairly dismissed by BP Chargemaster (AM-Online)
  3. Tribunal exposes gender gap in banking culture and pay – When Stacey Macken arrived at work at the main London office of BNP Paribas one morning in 2013, she found a witch’s hat on her desk. A witness to the incident said male members of her team had left it there the previous night, when they returned from the pub “visibly drunk” (The Financial Times)
  4. Ex-partner who alleges bullying denied sight of colleague grievances – An ex-partner suing her former firm for unfair dismissal has been refused access to grievance documents relating to former colleagues. Helen Clifford applied last month at East London employment tribunal to ask for disclosure of all court proceedings, settlement agreements and non-disclosure agreements drawn up since January 2018 by her former employer, south-east firm McMillan Williams (The Law Society Gazette)
  5. Paratroopers win Colchester barracks racial harassment claim – Two former British army soldiers have won a racial discrimination claim against the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Nkululeko Zulu and Hani Gue alleged they faced years of harassment and took their case to an employment tribunal (BBC)
  6. Out-of-hours GP who had limited company was a worker, rules EAT – Out-of-hours GP who had limited company was a worker, rules EAT (Personnel Today)
  7. Vegetarians cannot be victims of discrimination, judge rules – Vegetarians cannot be victims of discrimination, a judge has ruled, as he dismissed the case of a hotel worker who claimed colleagues bullied him over his meat-free diet (The Telegraph)
  8. Tribunal seeks ‘worker’ status clarification from EU – An employment tribunal is seeking clarification from the European Court of Justice on the proper interpretation of the “worker” classification under EU law – particularly around a gig-economy worker’s right to use substitutes and whether this means they cannot be regarded as a “worker” (Personnel Today)
  9. Peter Herbert becomes first judge to sue MoJ over race discrimination – A prominent judge has told an employment tribunal that race discrimination is a “significant problem” in the judiciary that it is causing “deep distress” to black and minority ethnic lawyers (The Guardian)
  10. Female banker wins discrimination case after witch’s hat left on desk by drunk male colleagues – A high-flying banker whose boss repeatedly brushed her comments aside by saying “not now Stacey” has won a discrimination case in London after a three-year legal battle (The Independent)