Employment Tribunal stories in the news – 07.10.2013 to 13.10.2013

MoJIn the latest of our series on Employment Tribunal stories in the news this week, we take a look at Employment Tribunal cases that have made the headlines since 7 October 2013. This includes a teacher who is pursuing her former employer for unfair dismissal, a former coach at Everton Football Club settling his case out of court and a BBC journalist who is pursuing his former employer for discrimination after being denied promotion

  1. Blackwood teacher ‘spied on for council’ – Surveillance professionals were employed by a local authority to spy on a teacher for three days, an employment tribunal has heard. Kim Shaw worked for Pontllanfraith Comprehensive School for 28 years before she became the subject of a disciplinary hearing (Wales Online)
  2. Everton FC coach sacked after Albert Dock fight reaches out of court settlement – An Everton FC coach sacked over a Christmas party bust-up with a female goalkeeper accepted an out-of-court settlement over his dismissal. Academy coach Mick O’Brien was given the red card by Toffees bosses  after he and reserve team keeper Danielle Hill clashed on a night out at the Albert Dock (Liverpool Daily Post)
  3. Sacked teacher Kim Shaw ‘victimised’, tribunal told – An employment tribunal in Cardiff has heard claims from a sacked south Wales teacher that she was victimised after raising pupil safety complaints (BBC)
  4. Paedophile awarded £30,000 after suing his former employers from his prison cell when they refused to pay him redundancy money – A convicted paedophile serving time in prison has been awarded more than £30,000 after suing his former employers from his prison cell. Robert Wills took RWE Npower to a tribunal after they refused to pay him a redundancy settlement after reading about his sentence for child pornography in the local paper (The Mail Online)
  5. Whistleblowers lose their appeal – Two former outreach workers at Swindon homeless charity Threshold Housing Link have lost an employment tribunal against their dismissals. James Derieg and Tony Niester were fired for gross misconduct after breaching the organisation’s communications policy by speaking to the Adver (The Swindon Advertiser)
  6. Kidderminster mum’s ‘sex discrimination’ claim fails – A Kidderminster recruitment firm has successfully opposed a compensation claim by a Polish mother in the town who alleged her work stopped after revealing she was three months pregnant (The Kidderminster Shuttle)
  7. Former Cineworld deputy manager wins sexual orientation tribunal – The former deputy general manager had worked 16 years for the company before being dismissed last June. But at the tribunal this summer Mr Sambrook claimed his dismissal was unfair and he had suffered sexual orientation discrimination. The tribunal has now found the dismissal was unfair (The Nottingham Post)
  8. Former perfume counter manager alleges subconscious racial and gender discrimination led to dismissal – A former perfume counter manager claims he lost his job at a North-East department store amid subconscious racial and gender discrimination (The Northern Echo)
  9. BBC journalist faced discrimination ‘because he was Coptic Christian’ – Said Shehata, 43, claims that he suffered “discrimination, victimisation and unfair treatment” from his managers and editors as a result of his religion. He brought his case after missing out on a permanent job as a senior broadcast journalist at BBC Arabic, the oldest and largest of the Corporation’s non-English language services, while nine Muslim colleagues were chosen (The Telegraph)
  10. Dundee HMRC call centre criticised for sacking disabled woman – A call centre in Dundee has been criticised for the second time in a fortnight by an Employment Tribunal after it sacked a disabled employee (The Courier)