Employment law stories in the news – 24.06.2019 to 30.06.2019

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 24 June 2019 and 30 June 2019

  1. Treasury faces annual £4bn bill after pensions ruling – The UK government is facing potential annual costs of £4bn after being denied leave to appeal against a landmark ruling that pension reforms discriminated against younger workers by protecting the retirement benefits of older staff (The Financial Times)
  2. Employment tribunals ‘failing to cope’ with rise in cases – Two years after the government was forced to scrap fees for employment law cases tribunals are struggling to cope with the increased workload, lawyers have said (The Times)
  3. Bias claim to go ahead against buyers of bust law firm – A City solicitor will be allowed to bring a discrimination claim against the buyers of her former law firm, which went into administration (The Sunday Times)
  4. Saudi diplomat ‘paid domestic Filipino worker 63p an hour, put buzzer around her neck and fed her leftovers’ – A Saudi diplomat allegedly paid a domestic worker in London just 63p an hour and made her “wear a buzzer around her neck”, an employment tribunal has heard (The Independent)
  5. Solicitor can sue firm as employee after ‘informal’ partnership rejected – A solicitor introduced to an elevated role in her former firm through a historic partnership agreement can make an employment claim as an employee, a tribunal has ruled (The Law Society Gazette)
  6. Police officer’s ‘perceived disability’ was discriminatory – It is discriminatory to refuse employment because of a perception that a health condition will affect a person’s ability to work in future, the Court of Appeal has confirmed.
  7. Solicitor proceeds with discrimination claim against firm and members – A City solicitor who brought proceedings against her former firm – only for that firm to go into administration – can proceed with her claim against the purchasing party, a tribunal has ruled (The Law Society Gazette)
  8. Cheating husband sued by daughter – A daughter has successfully sued her father for £5,000 in a feud over his affair with an employee at the family’s equestrian centre (The Times)
  9. Employee who won tribunal case against Spicerhaart now awarded £10,000 costs – A former employee of Spicerhaart has been awarded £10,000 costs after winning her employment tribunal case (Property Industry Eye)
  10. Tribunal finds that St Mungo’s victimised former staff member – Leigh Andrews took her case to the employment tribunal after being refused work as a locum worker for the charity because of bullying allegations made and then dropped 14 years before (Third Sector)