Employment law stories in the news – 24.09.2018 to 30.09.2018

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 September 2018 and 30 September 2018

  1. One in three women have been sexually harassed at work despite #MeToo movement, a study has found – The survey suggests that not much has changed one year after the Harvey Weinstein scandal brought light to the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace (The Metro)
  2. Out-of-time appeals allowed after judgments sent to wrong addresses – Claimants whose judgments were sent to the wrong address have been allowed to appeal after the court ruled they should not be punished for someone else’s mistake (Law Society Gazette)
  3. Ten big-name firms to publish parental leave policies online – Ten big-name businesses have agreed to publish parental leave and pay policies online. It means people will not have to ask for the information when they apply or go for a job interview (BBC)
  4. Single dad ex-cop sues Police Scotland for sex discrimination over claims he wasn’t able to look after his kids – A single dad ex-cop is suing Police Scotland for sex discrimination as he says changes to his shift pattern meant he couldn’t look after his kids. Mark Blackie, 44, is also claiming constructive dismissal at an employment tribunal (The Scottish Sun)
  5. NI police face tribunal over beard policy – A police officer is taking an industrial tribunal case against the PSNI over a ban on facial hair. It follows a police review of the force’s policies in 2017 (BBC)
  6. Nanny sues over ‘Nooooo, another black person’ text – The wife of a British banker is being sued after accidentally sending her American nanny a racist text and then firing her when she realised her mistake. Lynsey Plasco-Flaxman thought she was writing to her husband, Joel Plasco, after meeting her new nanny, Giselle Maurice, for the first time when she texted, “Nooooooooooo another black person”, according to Maurice (The Times)
  7. Uber and CitySprint among gig economy firms to face parliament – Uber and courier firms including CitySprint are to be called to give evidence to a parliamentary inquiry into gig economy companies that have continued to deny workers employment rights despite tribunal rulings (The Guardian)
  8. HMRC contractor scores IR35 payout after yet another taxman blunder – A self-employed contractor has scooped thousands of pounds from HM Revenue and Customs after the British tax body used its controversial CEST online tool to wrongly determine her tax status (The Register)
  9. Minimum wage: Workers underpaid by record £15.6m – A record £15.6m worth of underpayment to UK workers has been discovered by the government in the past year. In total, 200,000 workers missed out on being paid at least the minimum wage rate – the highest number since the statutory rate was introduced in 1999 (BBC)
  10. Army fails to stamp out sexual assaults – Fifteen per cent of women in the army have experienced a “particularly upsetting” incident of a sexual nature in the past year, according to a report (The Times)