Council ordered to reinstate wrongly sacked manager
Camden Council has been ordered by a tribunal to reemploy a former manager and pay him £100,618 after a failed attempt to sack him. Mr Thornhill was a street lighting and drainage manager and had worked at the council for 37 years until he was sacked for mishandling a procurement process. However, the manager was […]
Vegetarianism is not a philosophical belief under the Equality Act, but Veganism may be
Conisbee v Crossley Farms and others In this case, the employee (claimant) had been employed at Crossley Farms as a Waiter/Barman from April 2018 until he resigned on 30 August 2018 shortly after being called ‘gay’ because he was a vegetarian. The employee did not have qualifying service to claim ordinary unfair or constructive dismissal, […]
Tribunal cases and wait times increasing
Minutes taken at the Employment Tribunals (England and Wales) National User Group meeting which took place in September, have recently been published. These indicate a 165% increase in single claims compared to last year. This is in line with the Ministry of Justice’s figures which reported a 130% increase in outstanding singles cases for the […]
£2m ruling for whistleblow dismissal and directors held personally liable
In 2017 International Petroleum Ltd (IPL) appealed the tribunal decision which found that their Chief Executive had been unfairly dismissed for making protected disclosures about the business’ operations and contracts which were awarded in West Africa. The Chief Executive had several disagreements with the company Chairman and one of the largest shareholders about his concerns. […]
Employment Newsflash – Substantial Rise in Tribunal Claims
It has now been a full year since tribunal fees were abolished by the Supreme Court after it was found that they were a barrier to justice and were in fact, indirectly discriminatory towards women. Refund application scheme When the tribunal claim fees were abolished, a refund application scheme was launched. So far 14,500 applications […]
How to minimise risk: disciplinary investigations
To ensure the process is deemed legally ‘fair’, a disciplinary procedure must begin with an appropriate investigation. Disciplinary investigation reports Investigations at work are often considered to be the ‘easy bit’ as there is no formal outcome, only a report which recommends whether the matter should go to a disciplinary hearing. However, did you know […]
Recruiting for judges as employment claims double
Since the Supreme Court ruled that tribunal fees were unlawful in Summer 2017, the subsequent abolishment resulted in a steep hike of employment claims. In fact, claims are at a record high since 2013. Steep hike in employment claims In the first quarter following the abolition the number of employment claim cases doubled, and in […]
Football Managers: How Would They Be Punished in the Office?
As HR Knowledge Manager at HR Solutions, I had the interesting task of helping Viking, suppliers of office equipment, with their recently selected real-life offences from football management. They asked me to compare what might have happened if the offences committed had taken place in an office environment. The pressure cooker of football management can sometimes get […]
Lord Chancellor plans to bring back tribunal fees
The Lord Chancellor has suggested to MPs that employment tribunal fees should be reinstated, in a bid to deter frivolous claims. In July 2017, the Supreme Court ruled that the high level of employment tribunal fees was unlawful. However, speaking to the justice select committee, The Lord Chancellor said that the judgment did not entirely […]
BP alleged to have sacked female employee because ‘women aren’t funny’
An employment tribunal has heard that a BP surveyor lost her job because her sense of humour wasn’t considered a female asset. At the time, Kathryn Buttle was the only female surveyor working in her team in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey. Ms Buttle was made redundant last year and is now claiming unfair dismissal, public interest disclosure and […]
Man wins tribunal over sacking for Facebook post
A man sacked from his job for sharing a rival butcher’s special offers on Facebook, has been awarded a pay out of £6,091, after winning an employment tribunal against his former bosses. Michael Hayward had worked for Wigan-based butchers Noel Chadwick, for seven and a half years before being fired for recommending a discount from […]
Employee sacked after posting comments about employer on Facebook
An employment tribunal has upheld an employer’s decision to sack a long-serving employee over comments she made on Facebook, which were in breach of her employer’s social media policy. The employee, Mrs Plant, had worked for API Microelectronics Limited as a machinery operator for 17 years. She’d had no disciplinary issues during that time. During […]
Employment tribunal awards compensation to ex-BHS employees
Former BHS staff have won significant compensation for their employer’s failure to consult with them. The London tribunal concluded that the company had failed to consult on the employees’ dismissal, and awarded 110 BHS head office staff up to 90 days’ wages each. The company should have followed the correct redundancy process. Despite BHS going […]
Employment tribunal decisions now available online
Members of the public can now view employment tribunal decisions in England, Scotland and Wales on the Government’s website. Before this new service was launched, people could only view employment tribunal decisions if they personally attended the offices in Bury St Edmunds for Welsh and English decisions, or Glasgow for Scottish decisions. Decisions available to […]
MP accuses government of hiding tribunal fees report
The government faces accusations of hiding a report that reveals employment tribunal fees affect women and ethnic minorities the most. Figures show a 70% drop in cases, including a 50% fall in race discrimination cases since the introduction of fees in 2013. Dawn Butler, shadow minister for diverse communities, claims people can no longer access […]
Huge drop in unfair dismissal cases after tribunal fees introduced
The number of people taking their employers to tribunals has fallen by 73% since tribunal fees of £1,200 were brought in. A study by the TUC has found that discrimination cases on the grounds of gender have dropped by 71%, race by 58% and disability by 54%, since the new charges were introduced. The TUC […]
Starbucks Loses Workplace Dyslexia Case
A dyslexic employee has won an Employment Tribunal against coffee retail chain Starbucks. Meseret Kumulchew, a barista at a Starbucks in Clapham, London, suffered discrimination in her role after she was wrongly accused of falsifying documents. Ms Kumulchew made mistakes in her role due to her difficulties with reading and writing. Yet instead of making […]
Voluntary Redundancy: Don’t Consider Age a Factor, Rules EAT
Taking age-related benefits into account during redundancy selections can be discrimination, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has ruled. The case of Donkor v Royal Bank of Scotland concerned an employee who was not allowed to apply for voluntary redundancy on the grounds of his age. As the claimant was over 50 at the time […]
Monitoring Private Emails at Work: What You Need to Know
The European Court has reaffirmed that employers can read private emails and chat messages sent by employees. The ruling has caused a media panic that employers can now ‘snoop’ on their employees, although this is far from the case. Furthermore, given previous UK Employment Tribunals, very little has actually changed. Regardless, with the case generating […]
Employment tribunal claimants never receive compensation
A third of people who win employment tribunals do not see the money awarded and less than half are paid in full. When people win their case at an employment tribunal, they naturally expect to receive the compensation that has been awarded to them. But Government figures show that thousands of workers who have won […]