Nightclub Dancer Compensated Following Vicious Assault by Customer

Public-facing businesses are under a clear legal duty to protect their personnel from the risk of assault by customers. In a case on point, a nightclub dancer who was viciously attacked by a client was awarded substantial compensation after a culpable delay in security staff coming to her…

Feb 21, 2022

She remonstrated with the client after he broke the club’s strict ‘no touching’ rule by slapping her on the buttock. He first tried to punch her before smashing a glass over her head, resulting in 2.5-centimetre wound to her forehead that required stitches. Security staff intervened but the police were not called and the client left the club without being identified.

After she launched proceedings against the club, the court found that she bore no responsibility for what happened. The client was 100 per cent to blame for the assault. Had security staff been constantly scanning the club for trouble, as they should have been, they would have witnessed the start of the altercation and intervened within a few seconds. Had that occurred, the assault would probably have been prevented. The dancer was awarded £12,000 in damages.

EAT Rejects Unauthorised Deduction from Wages Claim

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has rejected an appeal against the dismissal of an employee’s complaint that unauthorised deductions had been made from his wages because he did not receive an additional day’s pay or a day off in lieu when he worked on bank holidays. The employee’s contract of employment stated that he could be required to work on bank holidays, and that he would be paid at double time for those days and given an alternative day of leave in lieu. When he worked on a bank…

Employment Tribunals Can Spot a Sham Redundancy When They See One

It can be hard to distinguish an unfair dismissal from a genuine redundancy process. As was shown by the case of a property manager who found himself on the receiving end of his boss’s unjustified pique, however, Employment Tribunals (ETs) tend to know a sham when they see one. The founder of the business for which the man worked had taken strongly against him. During a recorded meeting, she made a number of offensive remarks about him in his absence. After he launched proceedings, an ET found…

Running a Business Via Group Chats and Instant Messaging Has Its Pitfalls

Business owners who use social media group chats or instant messaging as an easy means of communicating instructions to staff may be prompted by an Employment Tribunal (ET) decision to consider other management tools. The owner of a family-run plant nursery suffered from anxiety and, during a period in which he largely worked from home, communicated with staff by means of social media group chats. The tone of such messages was generally very informal and jokes and swear words were sometimes…