Disability Discrimination – Diabetic Cake Shop Worker Compensated

Discrimination against disabled employees is a social evil with which Employment Tribunals (ETs) will have no truck. In one case, a cake shop worker who was dismissed because of her diabetes was awarded thousands of pounds in compensation.

The woman’s condition meant that, without daily…

Oct 18, 2021

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The woman’s condition meant that, without daily insulin injections, she would suffer a hypoglycaemic episode and fall into a coma. At the date of her dismissal, she was in stage B renal failure. In sacking her by text, her manager expressed the view that she needed to find a job more suitable to her health requirements.

Upholding her disability discrimination claim, an ET found that the only possible explanation for her dismissal was the fact of her disability and her unavoidable need to go home at a particular time of day so that she could inject herself with insulin in temperature-controlled and hygienic conditions.

Having had an exemplary record throughout her working life, she was distressed and embarrassed by the circumstances of her dismissal and worried that she would never find another job. She felt completely worthless and limited because of her disability. The company that employed her was ordered to pay her a total of £7,343 in compensation and interest, including £5,000 for injury to her feelings.

Supreme Court Urges ‘Give and Take’ in Town or Village Green Dispute

Town or village greens (TVGs) are effectively sacrosanct against development and public access to them is heavily protected by law. However, they are often privately owned and, as an important Supreme Court ruling showed, that can create some stark conflicts of interest. The case concerned a 200-square-metre area on the quayside of a privately owned port. Entirely covered by concrete and long in use by HGVs and port vehicles, there was nothing bucolic about the site. The port’s owner erected a…

Tax Dodgers Beware – You May Be Sacrificing Your Employment Rights

Tax evaders rarely understand the potential consequences of their wrongdoing. That was certainly so in the case of two cab drivers who underdeclared their earnings to the tax authorities and, in doing so, came perilously close to sacrificing any claim they might have to employment rights. The drivers launched Employment Tribunal (ET) proceedings against a private hire company, complaining that they had not received holiday pay or work breaks. The company asserted, amongst other things, that…

Court of Appeal Upholds Entitlements of Employee on Long-Term Sick Leave

Many employers offer their staff the benefit of insurance-backed income protection schemes that provide them with financial security in the event of long-term illness. The legal effect of one such scheme came under analysis by the Court of Appeal in a case concerning an engineer who had been on sick leave for well over a decade. The engineer went on sick leave in 2009, suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome, and had been off work continuously ever since. Throughout all but the first 13 weeks…