Johnson v Edwardian International Hotels In cases where the mental capacity of a party is doubted, employment tribunals must use their general case management powers in relation to the conduct of the proceedings and the merits of the claim rather t  More...
25 June 2008 12:30

Collidge v Freeport plc FACTS  Mr Collidge was the chief executive and a director of Freeport. In early 2006, allegations of financial impropriety were made against him. In March 2006, the board proposed that Collidge be suspended while   More...
05 June 2008 14:55

Communications giant O2 has sacked at least six workers who used staff discounts to buy Apple iPhones and sold them on the internet at a profit, according to reports. Employees in London-based stores allegedly bought large quantities of the fashiona  More...
02 June 2008 16:13

Don't take the easy way out: if you make sure you have sound policies and procedures for dismissal and follow them, you can't go wrong, writes David Green.   More...
19 May 2008 10:41

A national blacklist of retail employees sacked for dishonesty is up and running, and could soon be extended to other sectors, Personnel Today has learnt. Mike Schuck, chief executive of campaign group Action Against Business Crime (AABC), said the  More...
16 May 2008 00:00

England football manager Steve McClaren was sacked because the team was not winning. Gareth Kervin outlines the do's and don'ts of capability dismissals. Capability, as a potential reason for dismissal, is something of a poor relation to redundanc  More...
15 May 2008 00:00

Q Nine months ago we issued an employee with a second stage written warning for poor timekeeping, but failed to specify the duration of the warning. Our disciplinary policy says warnings normally remain on file for at least six months. We're investi  More...
21 April 2008 10:48

A bald teacher who claimed he was a victim of disability discrimination has lost his tribunal claim, it has emerged. Retired art teacher James Campbell, 61, at Denny High School in Stirlingshire, took Falkirk Council to an employment tribunal claimi  More...
16 April 2008 16:27

Wilkinson v Springwell Engineering Ltd Facts This is a case under the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 (EEAR) , which provide protection against discrimination on grounds of age. Regulation 3(1)(a) provides that A directly discrimi  More...
02 April 2008 10:45

In the recent case of English v Thomas Sanderson Blinds, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that a man who had been subject to homophobic 'banter' could not bring a claim for harassment under the sexual orientation regulations, because he was no  More...
13 March 2008 10:29

An insurance company manager has been sacked for working as a magician at a children's party while on sick leave. Mr Hocus Pocus, also a £30,000-a-year manager at Legal & General, was sacked for gross misconduct and lost his claim for breach o  More...
26 February 2008 15:25

Airbus UK Ltd v Webb - Court of Appeal Facts Webb worked for Airbus as an aircraft fitter. In July 2004, Webb was given a 12-month final written warning for misuse of Airbus premises and equipment and the fraudulent misuse of company time. The war  More...
18 February 2008 11:00

This week's letters also include comments about lone parents, HCMI and staff retention   More...
21 January 2008 11:27

The actor who played a character in the children's television show In the Night Garden, on CBeebies, has lost his case of unfair dismissal. Isaac Blake, who lost four out of five claims against Ragdoll Productions, had told an employment tri  More...
18 January 2008 09:49

A children's television actor who played a character in the CBeebies show In the Night Garden is claiming unfair dismissal against the programme's makers. Isaac Blake told an employment tribunal in Birmingham that he was forced off work after  More...
15 January 2008 10:44

A senior police officer who had sex with a woman at an airport while on duty has been sacked after a misconduct hearing. British Transport Police inspector Masood Khan pleaded guilty to one charge relating to a breach of the Police Code of Conduct.   More...
09 January 2008 10:53

Human resources news and analysis including: a look at what 2008 has in prospect for employers the first major tribunal outcome of the year - a heterosexual employee has won damages regarding her sexual orientation a new government cam  More...
04 January 2008 13:35

Klusova v London Borough of Hounslow An employer's genuine, but mistaken, belief that continuing to employ a foreign national would breach immigration legislation was capable of amounting to "some other substantial reason" for the purpose of defen  More...
11 December 2007 08:00

Emma Clarke, the woman behind the voice that warns millions of commuters on London Underground every day to "mind the gap", has been sacked after she criticised the network. Clarke, professional voice-over artist, has been recording messages f  More...
28 November 2007 12:46

A British Airways check-in clerk who was suspended for refusing to conceal a small crucifix on a necklace at her post at Heathrow Airport has accused her employers of having a "culture of hostility" to Christianity at an employment tribunal. When Nad  More...
15 November 2007 12:20

I am the HR director of a large retail outlet with more than 50 stores. Recently, two of our senior employees were caught having sex in one of our store changing rooms during their lunch break. We obviously find this unacceptable, but we don't have a sp  More...
29 October 2007 08:00

Louisa Peacock presents the latest human resources news. This week we bring you a taste of what’s making the headlines in HR, including a councillor who got into trouble over Christmas shopping, latest news from the disability employer Rem  More...
26 October 2007 14:16

The most burdensome pieces of employment law faced by small businesses are statutory dismissal and grievance procedures, and parental, paternity and maternity leave/pay . A study by the Federation of Small Businesses has rev  More...
24 October 2007 10:09

After a teambuilding event at a local hotel, one of our employees confessed that during the networking exercise in the bar in the evening, he witnessed an employee putting something in a colleague's drink without their knowledge. We have dismissed the p  More...
22 October 2007 10:30

Human resources (HR) experts have warned that companies must develop an anti-fraud culture in the workplace so that whistleblowers feel safe to come forward. The warning follows the annual Global Economic Crime Survey by business consultanc  More...
22 October 2007 09:42

Homeserve Emergency Services Limited v Dixon FACTS Mr Dixon was employed as a chief service engineer. The case involved an incident when he was discovered by his manager to have been undertaking private work during company time and using a c  More...
22 October 2007 00:04

A Heathrow Airport worker who was sacked for wearing a nose stud, has won her job back. Amrit Lalji, an employee of catering firm Eurest, was dismissed after refusing to remove the stud at a manager's request. Lalji said she wore it as a mark of her  More...
05 October 2007 12:39

Employment lawyers must not be allowed to "get their hands" on any new dispute resolution procedures, the departing head of Acas has warned. Rita Donaghy, who steps down as chair of the conciliation service this week after seven years in the role,   More...
01 October 2007 10:40

The much-maligned laws covering dismissal, grievance and disciplinary procedures are due to change in a couple of years, but in the meantime HR is stuck with them and must tread carefully. Ross Bentley runs through the dos and don'ts to see you safely through.  More...
24 September 2007 14:26

HR failings over unfair dismissals are back in the headlines again, with HR defending its position over claims that it was responsible for the Whitehall failings that cost the taxpayer £628,632 . No doubt this serves as an uneasy wake-up call   More...
24 September 2007 12:25

Public sector HR chiefs have defended the profession following a damning report on basic HR failings, and pointed to serious flaws in the dismissal procedure instead. Last week, Personnel Today revealed that one in four civil servant sackings bro  More...
24 September 2007 10:45

Human resources professionals could be stuck with the statutory dismissal procedures for another two years, a leading employment lawyer has warned. Dispute resolution rules are to be redrawn by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory R  More...
20 September 2007 13:58

Peter Lewis, a former senior banker at HSBC, has lost his long-running claim that the banking giant discriminated against him because he was gay. Lewis, HSBC's former head of global equities, claimed the bank had mishandled an investigation into all  More...
18 September 2007 16:00

British Airways (BA) is embroiled in another row about uniform and religion after an airport worker was sacked for wearing a nose stud. The GMB union wants the airline to intervene after Amrit Lalji, employed by Eurest UK in a BA VIP lounge in Heathr  More...
18 September 2007 15:00

Walsall Council has been heavily criticised for a "range of failings" that led to a £650,000 payout to a former employee. Peter Francis was awarded the cash after taking the council to an employment tribunal claiming constructive dismissal and disab  More...
18 September 2007 08:40

Controversial regulations meaning dismissals are automatically rendered unlawful by a failure to follow set procedures - the Polkey principle - could remain when the unpopular dispute resolution rules are redrawn, it has emerged. The CBI revealed t  More...
18 September 2007 08:00

Basic HR failings cost the taxpayer hundreds of thousands of pounds last year as one in four civil servant sackings brought to appeal was found to be unlawful. The annual report of the Civil Service Appeal Board revealed that the total cost o  More...
17 September 2007 08:30

This week's round-up of HR news including how one in four dismissals in the civil service doesn't stick; and more on the Leitch Review skills pledge. Rob Moss is joined by Greg Pitcher and Louisa Peack to discusss the above, and by Helen McCormick w  More...
14 September 2007 16:02

The Court of Appeal has confirmed that an employer can fairly dismiss an employee for incapacity even in circumstances where the employer's conduct has caused - or contributed towards - the employee's incapacity. Transfer and related grievance   More...
12 September 2007 00:00

Aptuit (Edinburgh) Limited v Kennedy EAT/0057/06 FACTS Aptuit provides clinical supplies across Europe. Mrs Kennedy worked at one of its three sites in Edinburgh, where kits of medicine were prepared for distribution to those participating in cli  More...
11 September 2007 11:17

Two HR professionals are expected to speak as witnesses in an employment tribunal into claims that HSBC discriminated against a gay member of staff when investigating allegations that he performed an indecent sex act. Lawyers acting for Peter Lewis,  More...
07 September 2007 09:45

EXCLUSIVE Advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi has been branded "despicable" by the family of a former creative director who was sacked after suffering a stroke. Personnel Today exclusively revealed in May 2006 that Mike Austin, a former c  More...
03 September 2007 10:23

Greenwood v Whiteghyll Plastics Limited Where a customer pressurises an employer to dismiss, the employer must consider whether there will be injustice to the employee and, if so, how to alleviate that injustice before dismissing. Facts   More...
03 September 2007 10:19

Rail workers at train operator One have voted for further industrial action in support of a sacked colleague. Members of the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union backed possible strike action by 300 votes to 59. It follows the sacking of Paul   More...
31 August 2007 14:52

A total ban on employees accessing Facebook, MySpace or Bebo at work is an "over-reaction", the TUC has warned. Instead, employers should trust staff to spend a few minutes of their lunchbreak 'poking' their friends or making plans for activities out  More...
30 August 2007 12:37

Truck driver loses unfair dismissal claim A truck driver based in Stafford has lost out on a claim for unfair dismissal, after he refused to make an extra delivery for fear of exceeding his driving quota of 15 hours. Roger Morris accused his former emp  More...
30 August 2007 08:00

McAdie v Royal Bank of Scotland Background McAdie had worked for the Royal Bank of Scotland for many years. When the bank moved her to a different branch, McAdie complained, and discussions about the move quickly became fraught, with McAdie co  More...
20 August 2007 00:00

HR news including: final salary and defined benefit pension schemes set to make a comeback; and the Argos employee sacked for his comments on Facebook. Louisa Peacock, Greg Pitcher and Gareth Vorster discuss the latest news in human resources.   More...
10 August 2007 17:50

  Car maker Renault  is facing possible prosecution for the suicides of three workers at its technical centre in Paris, after the French Work Inspectorate submitted the findings of its investigation to the public prosecutor. Three employees at the c  More...
24 July 2007 08:00

What should employers do when bizarre addictions impact on the workplace? Guy Guinan offers guidance. Recently, James Pacenza brought a $5m (£2.5m) lawsuit against IBM in the US for wrongful dismissal after being sacked for looking at pornogr  More...
11 July 2007 00:00

Hynd v Armstrong and others - Scottish Court of Session Pre-transfer dismissals  More...
13 June 2007 00:00

Rob Moss, Mike Berry and Louisa Peacock preview this week's Personnel Today, including stories on the Leitch review, equal pay and the HR director who says that sacking people is easy. Click on the audio player below to listen to a brief round-up of  More...
21 May 2007 07:21

Employee blogs are an increasing concern for UK businesses and could have legal ramifications, a law firm has warned. Nick Poole, partner at law firm Latimer Hinks , has urged employers to review their policies to cover internet blogging, followi  More...
20 April 2007 10:30

Amina Azmi, who brought an unsuccessful claim against her employer after she was dismissed for refusing to remove her veil while teaching , has lost her appeal in the Employment  Appeal Tribunal (EAT) . Azmi claimed th  More...
02 April 2007 14:45

I recently found out that one of my managers fired a member of staff by text message. We're concerned about the legal implications of this following the recent high-profile case involving the dismissal of Cardiff shop worker, Katy Tanner, by text messag  More...
06 March 2007 00:00

Ryanair pilots have been told they will be sacked if they continue to approach landing strips dangerously. There have been three incidents in less than 12 months where Ryanair planes have come to airports too fast or at the wrong height and had t  More...
07 February 2007 00:00

Leicester University recently conducted a survey among a representative sample of 2,000 people, asking whether they would commit fraud if they knew they could get away with it. Disturbingly, seven in 10 admitted they would. So it is not su  More...
30 January 2007 08:00

An employment lawyer has gained a cult business following after suggesting on his blog that the unfair dismissal law should be scrapped. Mark Ellis, a solicitor at business consultancy Ellis Whittam, said the law benefited lawyers and staff a  More...
29 January 2007 16:15

Three nurses at Mayday Hospital in Croydon are facing the sack for allegedly stealing chocolate cake donated to staff who worked over Christmas, according to reports. The nurses have been accused of theft as the cake was given to A&E nurses, but the  More...
29 January 2007 07:54

A driver who lost his job after a supplier complained that he smelled of alcohol has been awarded £17,270 for unfair dismissal. Paul Hill was sacked by delivery firm Bond Retail Services after a client said he could smell alcohol on his breath. W  More...
25 January 2007 08:31

Scores of catering workers whose sacking caused travel chaos at Heathrow Airport are to fight for compensation. The workers were among 700 staff sacked by inflight caterer Gate Gourmet in summer 2005 in a row over restructuring. The action   More...
14 November 2006 10:50

Challenging as they are, it is crucial that employers get the statutory procedures right if they are to avoid expensive hikes in compensation awards. Failure to follow the statutory dismissal procedure will render any dismissal automatically unfair, wit  More...
14 November 2006 00:00

Kelly-Madden v Manor Surgery , EAT, 19 October 2006 Background It was alleged that Kelly-Madden had dishonestly paid herself overtime payments. She claimed that her predecessor had informed her verbally that she would be entitled to overtime pa  More...
14 November 2006 00:00

Re-engagement of dismissed employee  More...
31 October 2006 00:00

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has ruled in a landmark decision that ministers of religion are entitled to claim unfair dismissal. Ministers of religion have until now always been regarded by the UK courts as appointed to a holy office, and no  More...
27 October 2006 13:34

Establishing a principal reason for a dismissal East Lancashire Coachbuilders Limited v Hilton , EAT, 24 August 2006 BACKGROUND Mr Hilton was a director and joint managing director (MD) of East Lancashire Coachbuilders, having worked there fo  More...
10 October 2006 08:00

Increasing numbers of civil service staff are overturning dismissals because government HR departments are failing to follow statutory dismissal procedures, an official report has revealed. The annual report by the Civil Service Appeal Board (CSAB) sho  More...
05 September 2006 07:00

Lusty Rural Payments Agency staff held to account for inappropriate behaviour.  More...
10 August 2006 11:53

Some managers are choosing to ignore the statutory dismissal procedures and risk a claim.   More...
27 June 2006 08:00

Fair dismissal despite poor investigation  More...
20 June 2006 08:00

Crystal Palace football club could be fall guys in manager-go-round saga.  More...
01 June 2006 14:33

A UK employer has been fined for dismissing a worker in the Reserve Forces who was called up to fight in Iraq - the first case of its kind  More...
24 May 2006 08:00

West Coast Trains Limited (WCT) v Murphy, EAT, 4 April 2006   More...
09 May 2006 08:00

Following best practice is the key to trouble-free dismissals.  More...
09 May 2006 00:00

A recent unfair dismissal ruling shows that the Polkey principle still plays an important role.  More...
11 April 2006 00:00

We have an employee who has been under-performing for some time, and they have now fallen out with one of the directors. The director concerned has asked me to arrange a meeting between him and the employee, and has told me that he is going to "do an Al  More...
11 April 2006 00:00

It's often down to HR to be the bearer of bad news. But there are ways to do this without causing more upset than necessary.   More...
14 March 2006 11:12

A shopfloor worker who claimed she was sacked for being diabetic is taking her case to an employment tribunal  More...
04 January 2006 12:20

Unfair dismissal: disciplinary investigations   More...
01 January 2006 00:00

Calculating a period of continuous employment   More...
01 January 2006 00:00

A German company has made whingeing in the office a sackable offence   More...
09 November 2005 07:32

Being good at a job may no longer be enough to prevent difficult staff from being dismissed  More...
01 November 2005 00:00

Sarah Ward, solicitor at Magrath & Co, answers this week's dilemma  More...
25 October 2005 00:00

Pekka picks pocket for productivity; Pitch darkness to make spines tingle; Ear to the Ground  More...
25 October 2005 00:00

The director of a no-win no-fee compensation firm that sacked its 2,500 staff by text is to face court action by the government  More...
24 October 2005 10:52

Dismissing someone purely on the basis of their personality is not illegal, the Court of Appeal ruled last week.  More...
19 October 2005 00:00

A former barman at the Hilton Waldorf hotel in London has had his claim of constructive dismissal through racial discrimination thrown out by an employment tribunal  More...
26 September 2005 10:00

Employers are regularly told that they cannot rely on the police to do the job of investigating for them and that they should conduct their own inquiry  More...
06 September 2005 00:00

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has rejected BA's appeal against a ruling in favour of a female pilot.  More...
22 July 2005 08:30

Over 65s are to get the same rights to unfair dismissal and redundancy payments as younger workers under new measures to outlaw age discrimination in the workplace.  More...
14 July 2005 10:30

The workplace is proving to be a major source of counterfeit DVDs. The Industry Trust for Intellectual Property Awareness examines the penalties for copyright theft and how HR can help firms stay on the right side of the law   More...
12 July 2005 00:00

Asda has confirmed that it is to cut up to 1,000 jobs, including hundreds of head office roles  More...
05 July 2005 11:37

Employment lawyer Jill Kelly explains how to clamp down on employees who visit porn websites at work  More...
21 June 2005 01:00

Alex Blyth looks at how new rules for jury service will affect UK employers  More...
21 June 2005 01:00

XpertHR answers questions on the right to receive a written statement of reasons for dismissal  More...
31 May 2005 00:00

Insiders who sabotage their organisation’s network are almost always motivated by revenge, said a joint report from the US Secret Service and the Computer Emergency Response Team.  More...
19 May 2005 11:52

CEO dismissals and other forced departures reached record levels last year, according to the fourth annual survey of CEO turnover.  More...
19 May 2005 09:00

Managers are unlinkely to report staff caught looking at child porn at work for fear of getting embroiled in a lengthy legal case  More...
13 May 2005 15:15

Williams-Ryan v Marks & Spencer, Court of Appeal, 19 April 2005   More...
10 May 2005 00:00

Shaun Brady, who was sacked for gross misconduct from his role as general secretary of the train drivers' union Aslef, has stared a new career as a publican.  More...
06 May 2005 08:00

… in Norway.  More...
03 May 2005 08:00

What can you do when you suspect an employee is faking their sick leave or stealing company property? Roisin Woolnough finds that it pays to look and learn   More...
08 February 2005 00:00

A change in the law in April will prevent employers sacking people who are called for jury service   More...
03 February 2005 10:25

The recent sacking of a Waterstone's employee should alert employers to the potential dangers of staff posting their thoughts in personal diaries on the web   More...
01 February 2005 00:00

Charities are increasingly being forced to use public donations to defend legal actions brought by former volunteers.   More...
31 January 2005 11:35

The case of the first UK worker to be dismissed for criticising his employer in an online diary should serve as a wake-up call for organisations and their HR departments, lawyers claim.  More...
18 January 2005 00:00

The recent disciplinary case against a Waterstones employee should remind us all that blogging is not the same as having a moan about work at the pub  More...
17 January 2005 12:00

A disclosure must be made in good faith to be protected under the whistleblowing provisions of the Employment Rights Act. In this case the Court of Appeal examined what is meant by “good faith”.  More...
03 January 2005 00:00

An employee of British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) - the parent company of the Sellafield reprocessing plant - is claiming he was unfairly dismissed because he weighs 30 stone. Graeme Ivison, 27, a health physics monitor, claims BNFL knew how big he was when  More...
23 November 2004 08:00

Millions of pounds are wasted by the NHS every year in drawn out suspension cases as delays hamper investigations of doctors and nurses suspended on full pay. The Commons public accounts committee found 30 cases of doctors suspended for more than two   More...
16 November 2004 12:30

The Seven Deadly Sins of Discipline, compiled by employment law specialist Kate Russell, are a sure way to poor staff relations and standards, dismissals backfiring, and even compensation claims totalling tens of thousands of pounds  More...
16 November 2004 08:00

A government drive to end the UK's compensation culture has been welcomed by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). In a speech today Lord Charles Falconer, the constitutional affairs secretary, committed the Government to overcoming the problem of  More...
11 November 2004 08:00

A doctor who was unfairly sacked six years ago has won the right to go back to work at the hospital that fired her. Feyi Awotona , a consultant obstetrician, won a case for racial discrimination and unfair dismissal in 2002, but South Tyneside  More...
21 October 2004 14:56

Raising the retirement age could wrap employers up in costly red tape when it comes to hiring and firing older workers, experts say.       According to Croner, the business information and advice provider, employers could face ma  More...
20 October 2004 16:27

Delivering leadership skills will lead to value for money The debate in Personnel Today about the value of leadership programmes is timely and stimulating with strongly polarised views. Jane King's comments that the BBC should be making some attemp  More...
19 October 2004 00:00

City firm Cantor Fitzgerald International has won a reduction to £900,000 of damages awarded to a former employee who claimed he was bullied. Steven Horkulak claimed he was bullied for six months until his June 2003 dismissal. The former senior manag  More...
15 October 2004 15:52