Employment law stories in the news – 25.01.2021 to 31.01.2021

In the latest of our series of posts on employment law stories in the news, we take a look at ten employment law-related stories that made headlines between 25 January 2021 and 31 January 2021

  1. Recycling worker wins unfair dismissal case after being sacked for failing a drugs test while taking cannabis for his bad back – A recycling worker sacked for failing a drugs test has won an unfair dismissal case after a judge accepted he was taking cannabis for his bad back (The Daily Mail)
  2. 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)
  3. BBC spends more than £1.1m on legal fees in equal-pay and race-inequality cases – The BBC has spent more than £1m on legal fees fighting equal-pay and race-discrimination cases brought by staff, it has been revealed (The Independent)
  4. BBC bosses pay out £2.3MILLION to workers in just three-and-a-half years to stop them taking corporation to employment tribunals, figures reveal – The BBC has spent £2.3 million in three-and-a-half-years settling staff disputes before they can reach employment tribunals (The Daily Mail)
  5. Inquiry judge’s media ban ‘unlawful’, Court of Session hears – A senior judge prevented the BBC from properly reporting a £2.6m legal claim against Scotland’s child abuse inquiry, a court has been told (BBC)
  6. Man claims ‘sexual harassment by colleague who spanked him at golf club – A male golf club worker at a top resort claims he was sexually harassed at work by a female colleague who spanked him and made inappropriate comment (The Metro)
  7. Singing teacher, 49, claims she was forced out of her job at top private school after blowing the whistle on sex pest colleague, 46, who ‘told pupil to be “more of a c*** teaser” during auditions’ – A music teacher at a top private school felt forced out of her job after blowing the whistle on a sex pest colleague who demanded a 16-year-old schoolgirl be ‘more of a c*** teaser’ during auditions, a tribunal heard yesterday (The Daily Mail)
  8. Tesco manager fired for tackling shoplifter wins £40,000 payout – A Tesco supermarket manager who was sacked after tackling a shoplifter in an “intensely scary” confrontation has won a £40,000 payout (The Times)
  9. MacHrihanish Dunes golf club faces tribunal over sexual harassment claims – A Scottish golf club is facing legal action over claims a laundry worker suffered sexual harassment “several times a day for months” at the hands of another employee (Herald Scotland)
  10. UK ministers rethink plans to rip up EU regulations – Boris Johnson’s government is shying away from a wholesale scrapping of EU regulations after ministers cancelled a post-Brexit review of workers’ rights in the face of fierce Labour opposition (Financial Times)