Employers have had to pay out more than £83,000 under the tribunal penalty regime that came into force last year. Firms now face penalties of up to £5,000 for non-payment of tribunal awards under the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act. The regime applies to judgments made on or after 6 April, 2016. The Department
The government says it wants to provide mothers and pregnant women with better protection against the threat of redundancy. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is to hold a public consultation on the issue and consider new ways to ensure women are not subjected to discrimination at work. It follows a report by
A beauty therapist who was made redundant by the Bannatyne Fitness group because she was unable to work weekends has been awarded £18,000 for unfair dismissal and injury to her feelings. The Employment Tribunal heard that Emma Holt had worked at Bannatyne Fitness in Carlisle for nearly 10 years. She had a flexible hours agreement
A pilot who was suspended by travel company Thomas Cook after saying he was too tired to fly has won his grievance claim. The Employment Tribunal was told that Captain Mike Simkins was suspended for six months and threatened with dismissal because he refused to fly a Boeing 767 with more than 200 passengers on
The director of a restaurant has been disqualified for six years for employing illegal workers. Anwar Hussain was the director of a restaurant company trading under the name Mim Spice in Southend-On-Sea. In April 2015, Home Office Immigration Enforcement Officers discovered that Mr Hussain was employing three workers who were not eligible to work in
More than 100,000 people of working age (18-64) are diagnosed with cancer each year in the UK. Encouragingly, however more people are living with and working through cancer. The headlines and statistics about returning to work are not so encouraging. Last month the case of Terry Foster, a refrigeration engineer with Lymphoma, received widespread news
A father has been awarded £28,000 because he received a lower rate of pay than his wife during their shared parental leave (SPL). David Snell and his wife were both employed by Network Rail. The company’s family friendly policy provided an enhanced level of pay for mothers during maternity leave but fathers were limited to
Hiring employees on repeated fixed-term contracts to carry work of a permanent nature contravenes EU law. That was the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the case of Spanish nurse Maria Elena Pérez López, who was employed by the University Hospital of Madrid. She began working for the hospital
A firm has been ordered to compensate a potential employee after withdrawing a verbal job offer made over the phone. The Employment Tribunal said the withdrawal amounted to breach of contract even though there was no written agreement. The case involved a company that appointed an agency to find suitable candidates for a vacancy. One
A woman has won her claim of sex discrimination against an airline that refused her request for flexible working after she returned from maternity leave. Emma Seville worked full time for Flybe as a cabin crew member for 13 years. Her rota was flexible, which meant she could work any 22 days of each month.