A forklift operator who was sacked for attending work after his son contracted Covid has won his claim of unfair dismissal. He said he believed his son was just faking symptoms. David Lewis had worked for The Benriach Distillery Company for 23 years with a clean disciplinary and attendance record. In February 2021, his line
The case involved Oxford Said Business School v Heslop. Heslop had made protected disclosures to her manager concerning the lawfulness of the school’s actions in a procurement process, and potential over-charging and breach of contract in relation to a key client. The manager felt that the allegations were misconceived. Shortly after making those disclosures, Heslop
The case involved JM Solutions UK Ltd. Its two directors lived in Romania, and since the Covid pandemic they communicated with staff via email and telephone. The employee, referred to as Dave, was the company’s office and sales manager, and was responsible for dealing with customers and negotiating rates. His contract of employment contained a
A software designer has lost his appeal against a court ruling that his employer owned the copyright on his work. The case involved Penhallurick and MD5 Ltd. Penhallurick had been employed by MD5 in 2006 to develop virtual forensic computing (VFC) software, after developing a manual VFC method as part of his MSc degree. VFC
A university lecturer has lost her appeal against a decision that her employer was entitled to dismiss her before the end of her probationary period. Korthals Altes began working for the University of Essex in 2017. Her contract provided for a three-year probation period, at the end of which she was entitled to apply for
A dealer at a casino has won her claim of race discrimination after her employer allowed customers to request that they only be served by white staff. The dealer, Ms Tesfagiorgis, was a black British national. She had worked for Aspinalls Club Ltd for 13 years at its casino in Mayfair, London. The casino’s patrons
Covid has impacted working life in the UK more than any other event in recent memory. The application of restrictions regarding how employees perform their duties have fluctuated over the last 20 months. In order to accommodate the changing nature of the workplace restrictions and also to try and protect employees from exposure to Covid,
Dismiss and re-engage, or fire and rehire, has been a practice for decades but recently has been receiving coverage in the press as a result of its use by high profile companies such as BA and British Gas, who have seen the coronavirus pandemic having a dramatic impact on their cash flow. An employer who
An employee at a biscuit factory who threatened a colleague while in a diabetic rage has won his claim of unfair dismissal. Mr Dytkowski began working for Brand FB’s biscuit factory in 2009. He was diagnosed with insulin-dependent diabetes in March 2018, which he described as a “difficult diagnosis to accept and manage”. Occupational Health
A mother who was dismissed during her maternity leave while the ownership of her company changed hands has won her discrimination claim. Mrs Rodin worked for HR company DMS1 and went on maternity leave in June 2017. During her absence, the company underwent a change in ownership, with Dhillons Management Services taking over, although this