Interesting Employment Judgments released – 01.01.2018 to 07.01.2018

In the latest of our series of posts on Employment Tribunal judgments released, we examine eight Employment Tribunal judgments released in the last week (between 1 January 2018 and 7 January 2018) that our solicitors found interesting

  1. Mr M Widdows v Hollowdown Ltd: 3300392/2017 –  in a rather unusual case, the Employment Tribunal held that a director who recruited Mr Widows did not have actual authority to do so, but had apparent authority to do so, and that there was therefore an employment relationship between Mr Widdows and his putative employer, Hollowdown Ltd. The Tribunal awarded Mr Widdows wages that he had not been paid (as he was not on Hollowdown’s payroll), damages for breach of contract, and a 25% uplift due to a failure to comply with the ACAS Code (Employment Tribunal judgment)
  2. Mr K Oppong v DHL Services Ltd: 1302640/2016 – the Employment Tribunal held that Mr Oppong succeeded in part in his claims for direct race discrimination and victimisation (including allegations that he had been suspended from work because he had raised a grievance and that he had been dismissed for raising a grievance), although the Tribunal also held that Mr Oppong was not blameless and that he had been obstructive once suspended (Employment Tribunal judgment)
  3. Miss K Carter v The Chief Constable of Gloucester Constabulary and others: 1400638/2017 – the Employment Tribunal awarded Ms Carter £14,930.30 as compensation for her successful claim for indirect sex discrimination and made certain recommendations (including that the relevant police forces must implement equality training) (Employment Tribunal remedy judgment)
  4. Mr D Scanlon v Young Engineers Ltd (in liquidation): 1400746/2017 – the Employment Tribunal awarded Mr Scanlon £3,525 in respect of his claim for unlawful deduction from wages, rejecting his claim that he was owed £23,775 (Employment Tribunal judgment)
  5. Ms P George v BUPA Care Homes (CFH Care) Ltd: 3200682/2016 – the Employment Tribunal held that Ms George failed in her ‘whistleblowing’ claim as, although it accepted that she had made protected disclosures, the Tribunal ruled that she had not been subjected to any detriments or dismissed because of the protected disclosures (Employment Tribunal judgment)
  6. Ms H Haines v Rainbow Theatre Productions: 1400362/2017 – the Employment Tribunal held that a female actor had been sexually harassed on a number of occasions by a fellow actor in Rainbow Theatre’s touring production, and that such acts had been during the course of her employment with Rainbow Theatre (Employment Tribunal liability judgment) (Employment Tribunal remedy judgment)
  7. Mr W Dean v John Reid & Sons (Strucsteel) Ltd: 1400458/2017 – the Employment Tribunal held that Mr Dean had been unfairly dismissed, after he was dismissed on allegations that he had breached confidentiality by providing a copy of his CV to recruitment agencies. The Employment Tribunal held that there had been a failure to carry out a reasonable investigation and that the company did not have a genuine and reasonable belief that Mr Dean had carried out an act of misconduct (Employment Tribunal judgment)
  8. Ms C Bickerstaff v The Royal British Legion: 1401026/2016 and 1400719/2017 – the Employment Tribunal held that Ms Bickerstaff had been subjected to various detriments (including exclusion from work, being barred from attending work, and being prevented from attending the office) as a result of a protected disclosure – she therefore succeeded in her ‘whistleblowing’ claim (Employment Tribunal judgment)