Textiles firm fined £60,000 after worker’s arm dragged into machine
A textiles company has been fined £60,000 after a man broke his arm when it was dragged into machinery at a site near Chorley. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the man had been operating a large fabric spooling machine when a brake malfunctioned. During his attempt to manually slow the rotation of the machine, his sleeve became caught up with an exposed grooved spindle and his...
HSE Fines – Company fined after worker spotted on pallet raised by forklift truck
A company has been fined after shocked onlookers spotted an employee precariously working from height while standing on a pallet raised by a forklift truck at Ramsgate Harbour. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted European Active Projects (EAP) Limited for breaching Work at Height Regulations after one of its workers was spotted on the pallet on 8 July 2022. The workplace regulator was alerted to the activity after it was...
Agency worker whose contract was cancelled hours after she disclosed her mental ill health was discriminated against, tribunal rules
An agency worker whose contract was cancelled hours after she disclosed her mental ill health was discriminated against, a tribunal has ruled. The Reading tribunal decided that Ms Zalejska’s manager at Principal Medical made assumptions over whether she had “sufficient resilience for the role” after learning that she suffered from depression and was on antidepressants. The manager also questioned how her diagnosis would affect her ability to work with “unhappy patients”. The tribunal report added...
Equality Act Amendments
The Government has published draft legislation to amend the Equality Act 2010 with effect from 1 January 2024. The Equality Act 2010 (Amendment) Regulations 2023 codify certain EU-derived discrimination protections which would otherwise have disappeared at the end of this year due to Brexit. Amendments include:The right to claim indirect discrimination by association (to cover a person who does not hold the relevant protected characteristic but suffers the same disadvantage at the hands...
Flexible working to become a Day One right from April 2024
The Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023 have been laid before Parliament.The Regulations remove the requirement that an employee must have 26 weeks’ service in order to be able to make a request for flexible working. The change makes the right to request flexible working a Day One right. This new right will come into effect for flexible working requests made on or after 6 April 2024.As far back as 2022, the government indicated their intention to make...
Merry Christmas 2023
A message from all of the team at Crownford to say, Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year. Please see below our opening hours for the festive period. O U R F E S T I V E O P E N I N G H O U R S M O N 2 5 T H D E C : C L O S E D T...
Protection from Redundancy: Pregnancy and Family leave
The Maternity Leave, Adoption Leave and Shared Parental Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024 have been laid before Parliament, extending the period of special protection from redundancy for employees who are on maternity leave, adoption leave or those on shared parental leave. It brings the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023 into operation.Currently, regulation 10 of the Maternity and Parental Leave Regulations 1999 provides that parents on maternity leave, adoption leave or shared parental...
Agency Workers
Was a Claimant who provided services as a pilot to an airline via an intermediary business, both ‘employed’ by the intermediary business for the purposes of the Civil Aviation (Working Time) Regulations 2004, and an agency worker under the Agency Workers Regulations 2010?Yes, held the EAT in Lutz v Ryanair DAC and others.The Claimant was supplied to Ryanair, as a pilot, under a 5 year agreement via a company called MCG Aviation Limited....
Heat of the Moment Resignations
Was a tribunal correct to conclude that a Claimant’s ‘heat of the moment’ resignation should stand – with the result that he could not pursue an unfair dismissal claim?No, held the EAT in Omar v Epping Forest District Citizens Advice.The Claimant resigned during a heated discussion with his manager. He later tried to retract his resignation, arguing that it had been in the ‘heat of the moment’. The Respondent disagreed and...