Two recent cases involving fathers taking paternity leave have highlighted a defining difference between parental leave and a mother’s statutory maternity leave. One male employee who worked for a technology firm sued for sex discrimination after his employers insisted he should not be paid at the same rate as mothers on statutory maternity leave. A
A social worker has won her discrimination claim after a drawn-out dispute with her employers in which she was asked, “how long would this disabled thing go on”. Patricia Murphy worked for Northumberland County Council from 1999. She suffered a foot injury in 2014 and lost some mobility. A series of complaints led to her
A woman who was dismissed after her eyesight deteriorated due to cataracts has been awarded £15,000 compensation. The case involved NHS administrator Denise Regan. After her vision became impaired, colleagues started to notice errors in her work. She sent a confidential report to the wrong patient, which was an information governance breach. Two months later
A Royal Mail employee was unfairly dismissed after he stored ‘obscene material’ on his online work account. That was the decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal, which ruled that Royal Mail’s internal appeals policy shouldn’t have allowed such a severe penalty. The case involved operational support manager Mr P Chokski. He was dismissed for sharing
A tribunal has held that Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) was wrong to dismiss an employee who raised questions about health and safety practices. The judge likened its HR process to “a show trial in the former Soviet Union”. The case involved energy trader Donald Nutt who was employed by SSE for 16 years. After
Two company directors have been held personally liable for their company’s failures over minimum wage rates, holiday pay and overtime. The case involved Lithuanian nationals who had come to the UK to work for DJ Houghton Catching Services Ltd as chicken catchers on farms. Their employment was subject to the regulatory regime of the Gangmasters
The Employment Tribunal has ruled that a female finance administrator was discriminated against when her male replacement was paid £3,500 more than her. The case involved Mrs J Broom, who had been employed in various roles by Alternative Care Ltd for nearly two years. At the time she resigned from the company, she was a
A teaching assistant was discriminated against by her employer, who did not take the necessary steps to allow her to work in comfort with her disability. That was the decision of the Employment Tribunal in a case involving an assistant who worked at Aycliffe Village Primary School in County Durham from February 2006. Mrs S
The latest figures on the gender pay gap in large businesses show a slight reduction on last year. Legislation introduced in 2017 means that every employer with 250 or more employees has to publish the differences between what they pay their male and female staff in average salaries and bonuses. This is the second year
A female economist has been awarded £19,000 after she was overlooked for promotion by her employer who instead gave the job to a less qualified male colleague. Olwen Renowden joined the Office for National Statistics in August 2016 as a grade 7 economist. In February 2017, she applied for an advertised grade 6 economist role