January 2011 Archives

A round-up of links to news items on employment tribunal rulings in the week beginning 24 January 2011, including an office manager who successfully claimed that a managing director racially harassed her with a "highly offensive" racist remark.

The Government has published its Employer's Charter (PDF format, 44K) (on the BIS website) that it says "aims to dispel many of the myths about what an employer can and can't do" is. It is, as others have already said (on the In Company Training Services website), extraordinarily inadequate on every conceivable level. Visit the XpertHR FAQs section [free access] for more on each of the points in the "Charter".

The Government has published its wide-ranging and ambitious proposals to reduce the number of employment tribunal claims.

It's instructive to look at how an EAT case on third-party-racial harassment decided under the Race Relations Act 1976 (RRA) might be decided under the Equality Act 2010.

A round-up of links to news items on employment tribunal rulings in the week beginning 17 January 2011, including an award of £47,580 to a prison counsellor who was unfairly dismissed when she raised concerns over £300,000 of "missing funds".

The well-known television presenter Miriam O’Reilly, who brought proceedings against the BBC after it dropped her from the Countryfile programme, has succeeded in her claim of age discrimination, in one of XpertHR’s latest tribunal reports.

The County Court decision (PDF format, 58K) (on the Judiciary of England and Wales website) that a couple who ran a bed and breakfast in Cornwall discriminated against a gay couple by refusing them accommodation is well worth reading for anyone interested in employment law, even though it relates to discrimination in the provision of goods and services.

The Government has issued a commencement order under the Equality Act 2010 that implements the provisions on positive action on 6 April 2011.

The Ministry of Justice has published statistics on the Tribunals Service's caseload for the three months to 30 September 2010 (PDF format, 547K) (on its website), including numbers on employment tribunal claims.

An animal rights campaigner has claimed that he was subjected to religion or belief discrimination when he was dismissed from his job at a garden centre, allegedly because of his views on fox hunting, reports the Daily Telegraph website.

An employee was constructively dismissed when he was falsely accused of “planning” sickness absence, in one of XpertHR’s latest tribunal reports.

A round-up of links to news items on employment tribunal rulings in the week beginning 10 January 2011, including an employment tribunal ruling that Miriam O'Reilly, the former presenter of the BBC1 rural affairs show, was discriminated against because of her age.

The Law Society has issued a new practice note (on its website) related to ambiguity in s.147 of the Equality Act 2010, which covers who can be an "independent adviser" for the purposes of a compromise agreement, after two top QCs from whom it sought advice disagreed about the legislation's effect.

A teacher who was dismissed from her job for allowing a novel she had written, featuring copious swearing and real students, to be published on the internet, reports The Independent website.

The Government Equalities Office has published a quick guide on the controversial positive action provisions in the Equality Act 2010, which are expected to be introduced on 6 April 2011.

Former BBC presenter Miriam O’Reilly has won her claim for age discrimination against the corporation, reports its website.

A round-up of links to news items on employment tribunal rulings in the weeks beginning 27 December 2010 and 3 January 2011, including an employment tribunal ruling that a school dinner lady's dismissal was procedurally unfair after she told parents that their child was being bullied and spoke to the media about her circumstances.

A food-preparation firm in Northern Ireland has had to pay out over £52,000 for sex and race discrimination to a Polish female worker, in as bad a case of discrimination as you are likely to see reported on XpertHR.

The CBI Director-General, John Cridland, has told BBC Radio 4's Today programme (on the BBC website) that the employment tribunal system is "broken" and that the tribunal process disadvantages everybody but the lawyers.

XpertHR is counting down five important cases on appeal for 2011. In R (on the application of G) v Governors of X School and Y City Council, the Supreme Court is hearing an appeal by an employer against the Court of Appeal decision that an employee should have been allowed to be accompanied by a lawyer at a disciplinary hearing in circumstances where a consequence of the hearing could be the addition of his name to the register of individuals deemed unsuitable to work with children. 

XpertHR is counting down five important cases on appeal for 2011. In HM Land Registry v Grant, the Court of Appeal is hearing an appeal by an employee against the Employment Appeal Tribunal decision that a tribunal, in finding that he had been discriminated against on the ground of his sexual orientation when his manager told other people that he is gay, failed to take into account that he had actively "come out" while working at a different office of his employer. 

The BBC paid out over £600,000 to deal with employment tribunal claims brought by 33 individuals in 2010, reports the Daily Telegraph website.