Employment law stories in the news – 24.11.2020 to 30.11.2020

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 November 2020 and 30 November 2020

1. Legal PA placed in redundancy ‘pool of one’ loses dismissal claim – An employment tribunal has rejected a long-serving law firm worker’s claim for unfair dismissal after she was placed in a redundancy ‘pool of one’ (The Law Society Gazette)
2. Christian actress Seyi Omooba loses appeal in anti-gay case – An actress who was fired from a stage production of The Color Purple for an anti-gay post on Facebook has lost the first round of her legal battle (The Times)
3. Dad suing after white colleague sends him ‘lookalike’ pic of gangster rapper Ice-T – A black sales executive is suing for racial discrimination after a white colleague sent him a photo likening him to gangster rapper Ice-T. Gavin Chittick got a snap of the star holding a machine-gun, with a caption reading: “Gavin Chittick = Ice Tea.” (The Mirror)
4. School assistant bullied by Aycliffe head wins discrimination payout – A disabled teaching assistant has won a five-figure settlement after being subjected to a campaign of bullying by a headteacher (The Northern Echo)
5. Worker asked if she had Alzheimer’s by manager wins age discrimination case – A worker who was subjected to jokes about Alzheimer’s disease was a victim of harassment and direct discrimination, even though the comments were meant as “office banter”, a tribunal has ruled (People Management)
6. Sole practitioner ordered to pay damages for unlawful wage deductions – A sole practitioner has been ordered to pay damages to three former employees for unpaid wages, in a decision by the employment tribunal (The Law Society Gazette)
7. Harvey Weinstein: Aspiring filmmaker set to allege ‘horrendous sex abuse’ by disgraced producer at England tribunal – An aspiring female filmmaker is set to make “astonishing” allegations of “horrendous sexual abuse” against Harvey Weinstein at a tribunal in England, judges have been told (Sky News)
8. Stuart couriers seek worker status ruling – A group of couriers for delivery firm Stuart have launched legal action against the company in a bid to be recognised as ‘workers’ and win the rights that come with that employment status (Personnel Today)
9. Dover Border Force officer paid £16,000 for unfair dismissal after calling black colleague ‘king of the jungle’ – An immigration officer sacked after being accused of calling Vietnamese ‘gooks’, a work colleague a ‘Paki’ and referring to a black colleague as ‘the king of the jungle’ has won his claim of unfair dismissal (Kent Online)
10. Loganair director wins tribunal payout over botched bonus payment – Scottish airline Loganair acted “perversely and irrationally” towards a former director whose bonus was thousands of pounds less than it should have been, a tribunal has found (Herald Scotland)