Employment law stories in the news – 31.01.2022 to 06.02.2022

In the latest of our series of posts on employment law stories in the news, we take a look at ten employment law stories that have made headlines between 31 January 2022 and 6 January 2022.

1. Plumber, 69, is awarded £25,000 after bosses dubbed him ‘Half-dead Dave’ because he was the oldest worker at the firm – He lost his job when a points-scoring system rated him lower than other staff but a tribunal ruled it was unfair and there was ‘no justification’ for low score (DailyMail)
2. Woman wins £28,000 after claiming Scottish Power ‘knowingly’ overcharged customers – Thippawan MacLean told a tribunal she believed it was “wrong” to ask customers to pay a final bill based on an “estimated reading” and claimed this could lead to “overbilling“ (Mirror)
3. Nursery worker, 23, who told her bosses she was pregnant a week after starting her job wins discrimination and unfair dismissal claims after manager asked her about the father and whether keeping the baby was a ‘good idea’ – The new starter, who was on minimum wage, was then ‘pressured’ into reducing her hours before being made redundant after the onset of the pandemic in 2020, an employment tribunal heard (DailyMail)
4. Headteacher sacked for affair with parent and putting her children ‘at risk’ – A primary school headmaster was sacked after he was caught having a secret affair with a parent, an employment tribunal heard (Wales Online)
5. Man is owed £74,000 in backdated holiday pay – landmark court case sparks hope for others – Gary Smith claimed he was entitled to more than £74,000 in holiday pay accrued over six years. In a landmark victory he has won his case at the Court of Appeal – meaning thousands of other Britons could now follow in his footsteps (Express)
6. Sainsbury’s call centre worker, 49, who was sacked for hanging up on dozens of angry customers loses unfair dismissal claim after saying she wouldn’t have been fired if she was ‘white and Scottish’ – Muawana McCollin put the phone down on 62 of 129 callers who were ‘unhappy’ or ‘upset’ in a single month while working in Glasgow (DailyMail)
7. Support worker with bad back loses tribunal after she was ‘pictured on bouncy castle’ – A women who told an employment tribunal she could barely walk 100m had her claim thrown out – after photos of her on a bouncy castle came to light (Daily Record)
8. Black civil servant handed six-figure payout amid warning of ‘systemic’ race issues in Whitehall – Kay Badu, 36, said he had been subjected to bullying at the hands of white managers over the course of three years in the Cabinet Office, which left him with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (Independent)
9. Asking a pregnant woman if she is coming back to work before she goes on maternity leave IS discrimination, judge rules in case of NHS worker accused of ‘planning her baby to gain promotion’ – Laura Jo Duffy, who worked as a PA at Barnet, Enfield & Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust in North London, successfully sued the health service after her boss nodded towards her stomach while asking about her ‘future plans’ (DailyMail)
10. Ousted boss of Lanarkshire leisure trust wins unfair dismissal case – Mr Campbell was SLLC general manager until April 2019 when he was sacked for alleged gross misconduct after a grievance from a leisure trust employee, named as ‘A’ in the ruling (Daily Record)