Employment law stories in the news – 18.01.2021 to 24.01.2021

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 18 January 2021 and 24 January 2021

  1. UK bosses set up IT systems to track Covid vaccine status of staff – Employers are creating vaccine databases of their workers to track who has been inoculated against the coronavirus (The Guardian)
  2. White man working in curry factory who was told he couldn’t understand recipes by his British Asian supervisor and should ‘go and work for an English company’ wins race discrimination claim – A white worker in an Asian food factory who was told that he didn’t understand recipes because of his colour and that he should go and work for an English firm has won his claim of race discrimination (The Daily Mail)
  3. Richard Keogh: Derby County to appeal tribunal decision ordering club to pay former defender £2m compensation – Derby County are set to appeal against a tribunal decision which ordered them to pay £2m to their former defender Richard Keogh, who was sacked after sustaining a career-threatening injury in a car accident (Sky Sports)
  4. Postman fired for urinating in lay-by was unfairly dismissed, tribunal finds – A postal worker who was dismissed from his job at Royal Mail for urinating in a public lay-by during his rounds was unfairly dismissed, a tribunal has ruled (People Management)
  5. Academics’ fling turned into ugly affair – The end of an affair between two academics at a university psychology department prompted harassment claims after the woman refused to accept that it was over (The Times)
  6. Sacked woman’s £40,000 claim for ‘discrimination’ – A woman who was dismissed from her job has accused her former employers of discrimination because they suggested she may be autistic. Sarah Hurst, 47, from Goring, is seeking £40,000 in compensation from the Department of International Trade in Reading, where worked as a senior investigator for nine months from October 2018 (Henley Standard)
  7. UK workplace sexual harassment rules not enforced say researchers – The government has been urged to improve enforcement of the rules around sexual harassment in the workplace after research found there was weak oversight of vulnerable workers (The Financial Times)
  8. Teacher who told Ofsted naughty kids were hidden from inspectors wins unfair dismissal claim – A whistleblowing teacher who revealed naughty children were kept out of sight on squash courts during an Ofsted inspection has won a claim for unfair dismissal (Yahoo)
  9. Father turned down for job for not being ‘best fit’ with female colleagues was discriminated against, tribunal finds – A middle-aged father was rejected from an NHS job because he was “very different” to the previous post-holder was a victim of age and sex discrimination, a tribunal has found (People Management)
  10. Employment tribunal rejects Ryanair’s case for removing striking pilots’ benefits – Low-cost airline Ryanair has had its defence for removing benefits from 29 striking pilots thrown out by the Employment Tribunal (Employee Benefits)