Employment law stories in the news – 28.09.2015 to 04.10.2015

redmans-blog-newsIn 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 28 September and 4 October 2015

  1. Global firms sentenced after worker killed – Two global companies have been sentenced after a worker was killed and another seriously injured during construction of an offshore wind farm. The incident happened when a team of engineers were loading wind turbine blades onto a sea barge for delivery to Greater Gabbard, off the Suffolk coast, on 21 May 2010 (HSE)
  2. Police marksman removed from duties after failing hearing test wins discrimination claim – A distinguished police firearms officer who was removed from his post after failing a hearing test has won a discrimination claim. Pc Bruce Shields, 39, had suffered high frequency hearing loss during his career as a marksman for Surrey and Sussex Police (The Telegraph)
  3. Large employers required to publish yearly slavery and trafficking statements – The Modern Slavery Act 2015 was hailed by the Government as ‘world leading’ legislation to counter slavery and trafficking in the 21st century. Section 54 of the new legislation will require large employers to make a slavery and human trafficking statement (ACAS)
  4. Government overturns turban workplace rule – Turban wearing Sikhs have been exempt from wearing head protection on construction sites since 1989. The existing exemption created an anomaly by applying to construction sites, but not to less hazardous environments – the government has taken action to correct this (Gov.uk)
  5. Company set up by solicitor can be victim of age discrimination, says EAT in “hugely significant” ruling – A company set up by a senior solicitor to be a member of his firm’s limited liability partnership (LLP) can be the victim of age discrimination, the president of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has ruled (Legal Futures)
  6. GMB union facing legal action from own members over historic equal pay deal fiasco – One of Scotland’s biggest trade unions faces being sued by its own members after they missed out on years of back pay in a long-running legal battle. Hundreds of low-paid female council workers have missed out on as much as £10,000 after the GMB agreed a settlement on historic equal pay claims vastly inferior to that negotiated by other trade unions and legal firms (Herald Scotland)
  7. Lawyer warns of dismissal claims over regulation – Tough new regulations have come into force which will make senior bank staff personally responsible or criminally liable for the failings of junior staff (FT Adviser)
  8. Health unions condemn ‘disgraceful’ £410,000 payoff to NHS executive – Health unions have reacted with fury to the handing of a £410,000 payoff to a senior NHS executive and close adviser to the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt. David Flory announced in March he was standing down as chief executive of the NHS Trust Development Authority (TDA), an arm of the health department that oversees NHS trusts, which has since merged with Monitor, another NHS regulator, to form NHS Improvement (The Guardian)
  9. Minimum wage increases by 20p to £6.70 per hour – A 20p increase in the hourly national minimum wage has comes into effect on Thursday bringing the new adult rate up to £6.70 an hour. The new rate comes into force ahead of the planned national living wage of £7.20 and hour for over-25s from next April (ITV)
  10. Age discrimination: young workers singled out for “aggressive” criticism win claims – Two young sisters who resigned from their jobs in a service station after what they felt was aggressive and unfair criticism have won their claims for age and sex discrimination in an employment tribunal (XpertHR)