Employment law stories in the news this week – 02.12.2013 to 08.12.2013

MoJIn the latest of our series of posts on employment law stories in the news this week, we take a look at nine stories related to employment law that have made the news between 2 December 2013 and 8 December 2013.

  1. Christian Celestina Mba loses Sunday shifts appeal – A Christian care worker who claimed she was forced to leave her job after refusing to work Sundays because of her faith has lost her legal appeal. Celestina Mba, 58, from south London, told Merton Council she was unable to work Sundays before accepting a job (BBC)
  2. Over-60s ‘rejected for jobs on age’ – Almost as many people aged between 51 and 60 have had a similar experience, revealing that many employers do not realise that age discrimination is illegal. A survey of 1,400 adults, including 131 over 60 and 550 aged between 51 and 60, also found that most older applicants keep their date of birth off their CV to improve their chances of being hired (The Express and Star)
  3. Royal Mail and union leaders reach deal averting Christmas strike – A proposed deal has been agreed between the Royal Mail and union leaders averting the risk of a Christmas strike (The Independent)
  4. Credit Suisse settles with analyst over age discrimination – Credit Suisse have reached a confidential settlement with a 57-year-old analyst who won an age-discrimination claim against the bank earlier this year. Bloomberg reports that retail analyst Tony Shiret said he couldn’t disclose the terms of the agreement after a hearing at a London employment tribunal last week. ‘I’m glad this is over’, he said (HITC Business)
  5. Factory worker subjected to campaign of racial abuse and discrimination – An employment tribunal found that management at the ConvaTec Limited plant on Deeside Industrial Park not only failed to carry out proper investigations into 45-year-old Chand Singh’s complaints but penalized him for going off sick when redundancies were later being sought (The Daily Post)
  6. Banker makes whistleblowing claim after being dismissed for redundancy – A city banker who complained that his £518,000 pay packet was not enough was made redundant months later and now lives off £71 a week in benefits, a tribunal heard yesterday (The Mail Online)
  7. RBS trader drops Libor dismissal case – A Singapore trader fired by Royal Bank of Scotland for allegedly manipulating the London interbank lending rate has dropped his lawsuit for wrongful dismissal. RBS said on Wednesday that no payments were made to Tan Chi Min, the bank’s former head of Asian delta trading, as part of the end of his action (The Financial Times)
  8. Aberdeen leisure chief wins pay-out of £26,028 – A former leisure boss is in line for a £26,028 pay-out after three judges ruled he was forced to quit his job with Aberdeen City Council (The Evening Express)
  9. Scottish construction workers win legal challenge over employment status – A group of construction workers in Scotland have won an employment tribunal they brought to challenge the employment status imposed upon them (The Construction Index)