September 2011 Archives

We round up what caught Tribunal Watch's eye on Twitter in the last seven days. Discussion this week has been dominated by wording in BIS's statement of new regulation (PDF format, 284K) suggesting that the Government has already made up its mind to increase the unfair dismissal qualifying period from one year's to two years' service. The Government later stated that this was a "drafting error" and issued an amended version of the document.

• No final decision no unfair dismissal qualifying period @TribunalWatch BIS has told us "there was a drafting error" + "no final decision has been taken to increase unfair dismissal qualifying period"
• Decision made on increase in unfair dismissal qualifying period? @paulcall1 BIS doc seems to confirm ud time limit raised to 2 yrs & fees for claims bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore... (p14)
• EHRC submission in religious discrimination case @ljanstis EHRC submission to European Court of Human Rights in Ladele and Eweida etc cases published bit.ly/r2kGPd
• Essential employment law event @TribunalWatch was at the @XpertHR essential employment law event this week - catch up on the #xpemplaw11 hashtag
• Gavels in employment tribunals @DazNewman I hate it when employment law news is illustrated with a gavel. They are used on auctions but never in ETs! http://j.mp/ohg922

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Photo: Vectorportal

Tribunal Watch is at the XpertHR essential employment law for conference today (Thursday 29 September) at the Holiday Inn Bloomsbury, London. You can follow the progress of the conference live on Twitter using the #xpemplaw11 hashtag.

After some scene-setting from my colleague Jeya Thiruchelvam (09.30), we'll be hearing from:

Morning

• Christopher Tutton of Irwin Mitchell on Agency Workers Regulations (09.35)
• Audrey Elliot of Eversheds on family-friendly rights and flexible working (10.40)
• Michael Bradshaw of Charles Russell with a discrimination update (11.35)

Afternoon

• Bernadette Daley of Mayer Brown International on the default retirement age (13.30)
• John McMullen of Wrigleys Solicitors on the Bribery Act (14.30)
• Panel discussion on government consultations and future proposals (15.25)

A round-up of links to news items on employment tribunal rulings in the week beginning 19 September 2011, including the fair dismissal of a British Airways manager involved in a ticketing scam.

Tribunal ruled BA acted fairly in sacking scammer (on the Skyport website) A British Airways manager involved in a ticketing scam has lost his claim for unfair dismissal.

Dating websites - if you’ve used one, you’ll be familiar with the compulsion to check your account to see whether that dream girl/guy has sent you a message (and, preferably, a picture). But should you check your dating account at work? A teacher was sacked for doing just that, in one of the latest tribunal cases reported by XpertHR.

Mr Bates was head of religious studies at Dowdales school, and had an excellent record, save for some run-ins with the head, Ms Moffatt, and another teacher - Ms O’Connor - in his role as a trade union representative. After Mr Bates returned from a period of sick leave, Ms O’Connor complained that he had been using his school laptop inappropriately during lessons, accessing an online dating service called Guardian Soulmates.

Ms Moffatt didn’t have a positive view of teachers using dating websites, and thought (somehow) that Mr Bates’ membership of the site could bring the school into disrepute. An investigation uncovered that Mr Bates had accessed the website for a maximum of 15 seconds during a lesson, apparently while pupils had been watching a video. The school suspended him and began disciplinary proceedings.

We round up what caught Tribunal Watch's eye on Twitter in the last seven days, including the latest in the case of a doctor who is facing proceedings before the General Medical Council (GMC) for allegedly abusing his position by talking to a patient about taking up the Christian religion.

• "Embrace Jesus" @TribunalWatch Christian GP who suggested patient embrace Jesus ''crossed the line'', GMC told http://ow.ly/6CH0N
• Could ebooks open a new chapter in legal publishing? @gdnlaw "...before tribunal with 4 yr old handbook, nervous about being caught out making an out of date submission" http://bit.ly/pFDxzV
• Supreme Court equal pay case settled @BBCLookNorth Unison and Sheffield CC have settled Gibson case (equal pay) before SC hearing http://bbc.in/oYEPGN
• Alluding to tribunal reforms @ariadneassoc If we are going to have tribunal reforms could we just get on with it? Bored of ministers alluding to it but nowt happening
• Radical reform of tribunals @daznewman Ed Davey has just promised a radical reform of the Employment Tribunal system 'from confrontation to conciliation'

You can follow Tribunal Watch on Twitter. Have we missed something interesting on Twitter? Tweet us or leave a comment.

The Anti-Caste Discrimination Alliance's (ACDA's) evidence (PDF format, 30K) to the United Nation's Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has resulted in CERD recommending that the UK Government amend the Equality Act 2010 to add "caste" to the current definition of "race".

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination discussed the UK's progress on tackling discrimination on 23 and 24 August 2011 in Geneva. There is already provision in s.9 of the Equality Act 2010 for the Government to amend the Act to add "caste". Following its presentation to CERD, the ACDA stated:

"It is unacceptable that Government has taken over eight months to consider the findings in NIESR's (National Institute of Economic and Social Research) report which confirmed without a doubt, that there is strong evidence of caste-based discrimination in the UK."

A round-up of links to news items on employment tribunal rulings in the week beginning 12 September 2011, including an employment tribunal decision that the Tate unfairly dismissed a gallery attendant because it did not properly investigate her allegations of bullying by managers.

Tate attendant wins unfair dismissal case (on the Independent website) The Tate unfairly dismissed a gallery attendant because it did not properly investigate her allegations of bullying by managers, an employment tribunal has ruled.

We round up what caught Tribunal Watch's eye on Twitter in the last seven days, including the European Court of Justice (ECJ) decisions in Prigge and others v Deutsche Lufthansa AG, on the retirement age for pilots in Germany, and Williams and others v British Airways plc, on holiday pay for UK pilots.

• Retirement age for pilots @TribunalWatch Lufthansa ban on pilots from working after 60 constitutes age discrimination, says ECJ http://ow.ly/6sN3s
• Holiday pay for pilots @TribunalWatch ECJ: pilots' holiday pay not limited to basic salary (Williams v British Airways) http://ow.ly/6vcNv
• Compensatory rest @TribunalWatch Court of Appeal on "compensatory rest" for lone security guard on 12-hour shift http://goo.gl/fb/NmGce
• Reasonable adjustments @TribunalWatch EAT: An adjustment with a less than real prospect of removing a disadvantage can still be reasonable http://ow.ly/6sG6k
• Employee resignations @XpertHR New Liveflo addition: Employee resignations http://goo.gl/fb/jafCx
• Mediation good practice @XpertHR Good practice: Mediation can resolve disputes quickly and at low cost http://goo.gl/fb/o8wge

You can follow Tribunal Watch on Twitter. Have we missed something interesting on Twitter? Tweet us or leave a comment.

A round-up of links to news items on employment tribunal rulings in the week beginning 5 September 2011, including David Beckham's brother-in-law's unsuccessful constructive dismissal claim, in which he claimed that his boss demanded that he invite the footballer to the office.

Broker brother-in-law of David and Victoria Beckham loses his employment tribunal case (on the Mirror website) David Beckham's brother-in-law has lost a constructive dismissal case after claiming his boss demanded he invite the superstar footballer to the office.

If you told your boss to “fuck off”, would you expect to be sacked? I would, and that’s precisely what happened to Mrs Doman, who used to work for Royal Mail, in one of the latest tribunal cases reported by XpertHR this week.

Mrs Doman’s moment of madness came after she was interrupted during a phone conversation by her acting team leader, Ms Brammer, who genuinely believed that she was having difficulties. After a “frank exchange of views”, the situation became even more frank, when Mrs Doman told her boss to “fuck off”.

Rather unsurprisingly, Royal Mail took disciplinary action against Mrs Doman, who admitted swearing, but “could not say that she regretted it”. She was duly dismissed and, after her appeal failed, claimed unfair dismissal.

We round up what caught Tribunal Watch's eye on Twitter in the last seven days, including Royal Liverpool Hospital publishing a job advert on its website stating "the usual rubbish about equal opportunities".

• "Usual rubbish about equal opportunities employer etc" @TarunTawakley Job advert refers to "usual rubbish about equal opportunities employer etc"- enough for an adverse inference? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan...
• Dress codes in Harrods @kevinpoulter I've been on the front page of @LondonLovesBiz today with my article on dress codes in Harrods. Read it here: http://ht.ly/6n2yf
• Rest breaks and compensatory rest @PLCEmployment Hughes v Corps of Commissionaires: CA endorses EAT approach to reg 24 WTR 1998 and compensatory rest http://bit.ly/ogxnpU
• Number of claims entertained at final hearing @ljanstis EAT: tribunal wrong to order that maximum of six allegations of discrimination should be heard in final hearing: http://bit.ly/pUBsb7
• Agency Worker Regulations rumour @DazNewman Just seen this thanks to @pcsavage: http://tgr.ph/qhXSrw Surely its too late for Cameron to alter the Agency Worker Regs now?
• Agency Worker Regulations to go ahead @DLA_PIPER_EPB The Agency Workers Regulations will "come into force as planned" http://bit.ly/nDCpHW (via @hrmagazine)

You can follow Tribunal Watch on Twitter. Have we missed something interesting on Twitter? Tweet us or leave a comment.

A round-up of links to news items on employment tribunal rulings in the week beginning 29 August 2011, including an art teacher who was fairly dismissed for poor attendance when he went off sick after one of his lessons was deemed "inadequate" during spot checks.

Sacked art teacher lost tribunal claim (on the South Yorkshire Times website) A South Yorkshire art teacher who was sacked while on sick leave has lost an unfair dismissal claim.

As new guidance from Acas this warns, employers should not make knee-jerk decisions about adverse comments posted by employees about their businesses on social media, most notably Facebook. Sadly, this was exactly what Mrs Whitham’s employer, Club 24 Ltd (trading as Ventura) did after she posted on her Facebook account: “I think I work in a nursery and I do not mean working with plants”.

The matter was brought to the attention of Volkswagen, a major client of the company. Sadly, the company failed to investigate properly what Volkswagen’s views on the matter were and, fearing that the commercial relationship could be damaged, dismissed Mrs Whitham. The appeal officer thought that demotion was a more appropriate disciplinary sanction than dismissal, but the company felt that it did not have the contractual power to demote, and the decision to dismiss was upheld.

We round up what caught Tribunal Watch's eye on Twitter in the last seven days, during which employees' use of social media has been in the spotlight again.

• Acas guide on social media @acasorguk Misuse of social media websites at work costs Britain billions of pounds. Today Acas launches a major advisory guide bit.ly/qhg4iR
• Model policy on employees' use of social media @XpertHR New model policy on employees' use of social media goo.gl/fb/ZXk38
• Dismissed for Facebook comment @TribunalWatch ET: Employee unfairly dismissed for Facebook comment that she worked "in a nursery" (she didn't) http://ow.ly/6itIG
• Full annual tribunal statistics published @XpertHR Employment tribunal statistics 2010/11: average age discrimination award three times higher than last year goo.gl/fb/GCWsp
• Equal pay test case @owenbowcott Equal pay battle heads to the Supreme Court gu.com/p/3xtg2/tf
• First bribery prosecution @cpsuk Court employee faces first prosecution under Bribery Act for allegedly requesting and receiving a bribe http://bitly.com/oNBXph
• Offender's false leg tagged @EmploymentBar Sacked for failing to recognise a false leg bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan...
• Teacher's "double life as porn star" @TarunTawakley Teacher faces dismissal over double life as porn star and stripper metro.co.uk/news/873952-se...

You can follow Tribunal Watch on Twitter. Have we missed something interesting on Twitter? Tweet us or leave a comment.