Workplace Sexual Harassment – You Don’t Have to Put Up With It!

Those who suffer sexual harassment at work have absolutely no reason to put up with it and should contact an employment lawyer without delay. In a case on point, a young woman who was showered with offensive WhatsApp messages by her boss was awarded substantial compensation.

Over a period…

Jun 30, 2022

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Over a period of more than two years, the administrative assistant’s boss sent her a persistent stream of extremely distasteful, crude and, in many cases, shockingly racist messages. About 50 of them were memes of a sexual nature. Some of them were simply bad, misogynistic jokes whilst others included pornographic images.

Upholding her sexual harassment and victimisation claims, an Employment Tribunal found it extraordinary that a director and owner of a company would send such unwanted messages to an employee. She did not find them remotely funny and felt embarrassed and humiliated by their content. Almost any female employee would have been likely to feel the same way in the circumstances.

Her boss had also made a comment about her removing her clothes and a sexually suggestive remark when she bent down to pick up a pen. When she complained, he sent her a text message containing a veiled threat to report her allegedly undeclared cash income to the tax authorities. Together with interest, her total compensation award for injury to her feelings came to £19,000.

Providing Your Services Via a Company May Not Always Be a Good Idea

There can be advantages, both in terms of flexibility and tax efficiency, in providing your services via a private company. However, as an Employment Tribunal (ET) ruling showed, such arrangements may also have the less desirable effect of stripping you of any employment rights you might otherwise have had. A nurse who worked part time at a care home launched ET proceedings against its owner, alleging unfair constructive dismissal and that she had been subjected to racial discrimination and…

Indoor Ski Slope Operator Not to Blame for Woman’s Agonising Fall

Some sports are inherently risky and unfortunate accidents inevitably occur for which no one is to blame. The High Court resoundingly made that point in the case of a woman who was grievously injured when she fell on an indoor ski slope. The middle-aged woman had not skied for 35 years when she attended the ski slope with a view to honing her skills in preparation for a holiday. She was descending the learner slope when she fell, suffering a complex leg fracture. Despite reconstructive surgery…

Are ‘Smart’ Motorways Safe? High Court Ruling Begs the Question

Are so called ‘smart’ motorways, which lack hard shoulders, safe? An answer to that question was implicitly begged by a High Court case concerning a catastrophic accident involving a minibus filled with university students, one of whom died. The university-owned minibus was returning from a sporting event along a stretch of smart motorway when it began to lose power. After a dashboard warning light came on, the driver pulled into an emergency refuge area (ERA). About 22 seconds later, he drove…