Director awarded £30,000 after role downgraded during maternity
October 20th 2021A marketing director was discriminated against when she was dismissed for refusing to accept a reduced role and a £20,000 pay cut while she was on maternity leave. Joanne Stronach Head of Employment and HR reports on this recent case. The case involved Mrs S Shipp, who had worked at City Sprint UK for 10 years from 2010-2020. She became pregnant in 2019 and was asked by the director of operations…
Teachers’ redundancy dismissal without appeal ruled unfair
October 14th 2021Two teachers have won their claim of unfair dismissal after they were denied the right of appeal against being made redundant. Joanne Stronach Head of Employment and HR reports on this recent case. The teachers had been employed by the local authority to work at a community secondary school (School 1). Due to a reorganisation of education provision, the local authority decided to close School 1 and replace it with a…
Constructive dismissal after sexual comments ‘can constitute harassment’
October 5th 2021The Employment Appeal Tribunal has ruled that a constructive dismissal following unwanted sexual comments could amount to an act of harassment within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010 (the Act). Joanne Stronach Head of Employment and HR reports on this recent case. The case involved a woman who resigned after alleging that her employer had made comments that constituted harassment related to sex, race or disability. The Employment Tribunal…
Educating staff to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace is vital, says leading lawyer
September 21st 2021EMPLOYERS need to educate their staff on what constitutes sexual harassment and sex discrimination in the workplace as the Government announces that it will bring in new legislation to protect employees from being victims of such behaviour at work. This is the opinion of leading employment lawyer Joanne Stronach, Head of Employment Law and HR at Cartmell Shepherd Solicitors, who said sexual harassment and sex discrimination was still a problem…
Employer had made ‘all reasonable adjustments’ for disabled employee
September 13th 2021A disabled employee has lost a discrimination claim after a judge concluded that her employer had made all reasonable adjustments to avoid any disadvantage to her. Joanne Stronach Head of Employment and HR reports on this recent case. The employee, Ms Martin, started working for the employer in 2014. She had several stress-related absences. In March 2017, an occupational health report advised that she had a chronic medical condition exacerbated…
Director didn’t breach duty over employee bonus in company transfer
September 2nd 2021A director didn’t breach his legal duty when he gave an employee an enhanced bonus entitlement shortly before a takeover involving the transfer of employment contracts. Mark Aspin Head of Dispute Resolution reports on this recent case: That was the decision of the High Court in a case involving Reader v SPIE Ltd. The court heard that Paul Garside had sold his company to SPIE under a share purchase agreement which…
Nursing officer was dismissed for making protected disclosures
August 25th 2021The Employment Appeal Tribunal has upheld a decision that a nursing officer was dismissed solely because she had made protected disclosures. Joanne Stronach Head of Employment & HR reports on this recent case. The officer, Ms Fairhall, had worked in district nursing for University Hospital North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust for 38 years and managed 50 nursing staff. In 2015 she was commended for her care and leadership qualities.…
Worker subjected to abuse on WhatsApp awarded £25,000
August 20th 2021A woman who stumbled across a workplace WhatsApp group featuring racially abusive remarks about her has been awarded nearly £25,000 for unlawful harassment on the grounds of sex, race and religious belief. Joanne Stronach Head of Employment & HR reports on this recent case. The case involved Mrs Muna Abdi who worked as an operations clerk for Deltec in Hounslow. She was originally from Somalia and moved to the UK as…
Pitfalls of ‘no jab, no job’ policy for businesses across England
August 19th 2021IMPLEMENTING a ‘no jab, no job’ policy brings serious pitfalls for business across England, a leading employment lawyer has warned. While it will be the law in England from November 11 for all staff and volunteers in registered care home settings to show proof they have received both Covid-19 vaccinations to enable them to continue working there, unless clinically exempt, companies across other sectors need to be aware that introducing…
Government to place duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment
August 18th 2021The Government has announced it will introduce a duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment and consider extending the time limit for claims under the Equality Act 2010 from three to six months. Joanne Stronach Head of Employment & HR provides an update. There will also be explicit protections from third-party harassment. The measures are in response to the consultation on sexual harassment in the workplace, which ran from July to…
