Employment law stories in the news – 27.05.2019 to 03.06.2019

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 made headlines between 27 May 2019 and 3 June 2019

  1. Employee wins discrimination claim after manager asked how long ‘this disabled thing’ would go on – A disabled social worker has won discrimination and harassment claims after a poor employee-manager relationship culminated in the claimant being asked how long “this disabled thing” was going to continue (People Management)
  2. Black paratroopers sue the British Army after top brass ‘covered up’ racial abuse of fellow soldiers who adorned barracks with Hitler photos and even dressed a dog up in Nazi regalia – Two black paratroopers are suing the British Army after top brass covered up the racial abuse they suffered from soldiers who decorated their barracks with Nazi flags and pictures of Adolf Hitler, according to legal documents obtained by The Mail on Sunday (The Daily Mail)
  3. White man to join police after victory in bias case – A potential police recruit who was rejected because he is a white heterosexual male will now join the force after it was found guilty of discrimination. Matthew Furlong, 25, whose father is a serving detective inspector in Cheshire police, had hoped to follow in his footsteps when he applied to join the force in 2017 but he lost out to other candidates (The Times)
  4. Priest takes diocese of London to employment tribunal over age of retirement – A 70-year-old priest, the Revd Paul Williamson, is taking the diocese of London to an employment tribunal, after it ruled that he must retire (The Church Times)
  5. Headteacher ‘awarded £500k of school building contracts to her husband’ before being fired – A headteacher was sacked after awarding her husband’s building firm £500,000 in work contracts, a tribunal heard last week. Ruth Ejvet, 57, breached guidelines by signing off on an initial £145,000 contract for a company run by her husband Nish – without considering other bids, it’s claimed (The Sun)
  6. Former British Airways steward, 53, is suing airline over claims a pilot called him a ‘dirty black P***’ and company failed to deal with ‘years of racist abuse’ – A former British Airways first class steward is suing the airline after claiming he suffered years of racism. Nick Singh alleges the company failed to deal properly with incidents including a BA pilot calling him ‘a dirty black P***’ (Daily Mail)
  7. Payout for sacked worker after Metallurgical Processing’s closure – A former worker at a troubled Blackburn precision engineering company has won an employment tribunal payout after its controversial closure (Lancashire Telegraph)
  8. Teacher cleared of force-feeding child was unfairly dismissed by council – A teacher has won an employment tribunal against Warrington Borough Council after being cleared of force-feeding a child. The judgment found the claimant, named as Ms A Starkie, was unfairly dismissed by the respondent, the council (Warrington Guardian)
  9. Officials altered records in bisexual prison officer case, judge says – An investigation is under way after government officials altered and redacted documents in an employment tribunal case involving a bisexual prison officer, the Guardian has learned (The Guardian)
  10. Company sentenced after worker suffers life changing injuries in fall – A company, two directors and a self-employed contractor have been sentenced and fined after an electrician fell two storeys through an unprotected stairwell (HSE)