Employment law stories in the news – 17.07.2016 to 24.07.2016

In the latest of our series of posts on employment law stories in the news, we take a look at nine employment law stories that have made headlines between 17 July and 24 July 2016:

  1. Drivers battle Uber over eredmans-blog-newsmployment rights – Cab hire service Uber has been taken to a London employment tribunal by two of its drivers who claim it is acting unlawfully by not offering holiday and sick pay (BBC)
  2. Angus based company fined after death of worker – A company that specialises in the application of protective coating systems has been sentenced after a worker became caught on pipe being sprayed with molten metal and lost his life (HSE)
  3. Theresa May’s plan to slash employment rights and cut workers’ wages in poorer areas revealed – Theresa May ’s new policy guru has a plan to slash employment rights and cut wages for workers in poorer areas. MP George Freeman , made head of Mrs May’s policy board last week, also believes people working in new firms should have no employment rights, possibly including maternity pay, paid leave and minimum wage (The Mirror)
  4. Sports Direct staff ‘not treated as humans’, says MPs’ report – MPs have accused one of Europe’s biggest retailers of not treating its workers like humans. A report by the Business, Innovation and Skills committee states Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley must be held accountable for company failings (BBC)
  5. Swastikas drawn on walls of factory toilets in Cardiff, tribunal finds – Swastikas were drawn on the walls of men’s toilets at a factory in Cardiff, an employment tribunal has found. The tribunal, concerning powder coating company Euro Quality Coatings , found the symbols, associated with Nazism, were “unquestionably offensive” (Wales Online)
  6. Bullied teach inquiry leads to more embarrassment for Durham County Council – A council was last night accused of “outrageous” behaviour and having no shame at failing to make public an inquiry report into errors which led to a £1.7 million payout for a bullied teacher (Chester Le Street Advertiser)
  7. Large costs award: claimants secretly recorded employer’s legal advice – An employment tribunal threw out four claimants’ cases and ordered them to pay a total of £69,484 in costs after an NHS trust’s chief executive and lawyers were sent a secret recording of a privileged conversation (Personnel Today)
  8. MoJ challenge fails on pay of part-time judges – The Ministry of Justice has failed with an attempt to impose a cap on pay for part-time judges writing up longer cases. The department had claimed that part-time judges would be overcompensated under a system where they are paid an additional fee of two-thirds of the daily fee for each day’s sitting (The Law Society Gazette)
  9. Worker trapped by three tonne road roller – An exhibitions and displays company has been fined for safety breaches after a labourer was crushed by a road roller. The incident occurred in November 2015 at Quantum Exhibitions & Displays Ltd in Hipperholme (HSE)