METRO - 06 APRIL 2006

LESBIAN 'IS SACKED FOR PREGNANCY'

A lesbian estate agent claims she was sacked from a gay-friendly company because she became pregnant.

Corinna Slow was fired after her boss found out she was 16 weeks into the pregnancy, a tribunal heard yesterday. The 27-year-old accused Kevin Newman of 'failing to consider the possibility' she might have a baby. But Mr Newman said he dismissed her because of her poor performance.

Ms Slow, who now has a six-week-old daughter, is claiming unfair dismissal and sexual discrimination against Mr Newman of company 2Let.

METRO - 03 APRIL 2006

I WAS SACKED BECAUSE OF ARRANGED MARRIAGE

An office worker claimed yesterday that she was made redundant from her job for having an arranged marriage.

Ayesha Sheika 21, says managers at accountancy firm BDO Stoy Hayward pried into her private life after her parents persuaded her to marry someone she had never met in Pakistan . Office gossips made her life a misery after she confided her wedding to Kaiser Sheika, 27, in December 2004 to a handful of colleagues, she said.

A manager allegedly quizzed Mrs Sheika about their future plans and voiced concerns that her husband would demand she give up work.

HOW HR2all CAN HELP...

Dismissal

In both cases above, the employer states that the employee under-performed in their role and that this was the cause of the dismissal. The employees obviously think differently.

What would you do in a similar position? Hesitate to act for fear of a tribunal? Live with poor performance despite its adverse affect on your business and the rest of the team? Take a gamble on correctly handling the situation and risk thousands of pounds in tribunal costs? Or use Beprofessional to:

• contact the legal helpline to discuss the individual case and suitable action
• conduct a performance appraisal and document the outcome
• be guided through the statutory disciplinary and dismissal procedures
• produce all necessary documentation providing a clear audit trail of your discussions, decisions and consequent actions.

YORKSHIRE POST - 07 APRIL 2006

£100K in fines and 9 years behind bars. Could this be you?

POWER FIRM MUST PAY £100K OVER DEATH OF WORKER

Bosses at a power station where a worker plunged 70ft to his death have been ordered to pay almost £100,000.

Andrew Bason, 42, died when the staircase on which he was working at Eggborough Power Station came away from a landing and collapsed.

At York Crown Court Eggborough Power Limited pleaded guilty to two offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £33,000 for two breaches of safety laws, and ordered to pay £60,000 costs.

The court heard concerns had been raised about the safety of the staircase three months before the accident, but nothing had been done. It also heard there was corrosion on the plant's 40-year-old staircases, but no regular safety checks.

Kate Thirlwall QC, representing Eggborough Power, said the company, which had never been prosecuted before for breaches of the Health and Safety Act, had cooperated fully with HSE investigators and had spent £330,000 to ensure all its staircases were safe. Details of the defects had been sent to competitors in the generating industry around Britain with the result that other power station staircases in a worse condition were found and rectified.

THE GUARDIAN - 18 MARCH 2006

RAIL CONTRACTOR GETS NINE YEARS FOR TRACK DEATHS

A railway contractor was yesterday sentenced to nine years imprisonment for the manslaughter of four maintenance workers who died when a runaway wagon ploughed into them at about 40mph.

Mark Connolly, 44, had deliberately dismantled the hydraulic brakes on two of his wagons to save money. At Newcastle crown court yesterday Mr Justice Holland told Connolly that by deliberately disconnecting the hydraulic brakes he had caused the deaths of the four men, his actions had been motivated purely by greed to a "degree that beggars belief" and only a long term of imprisonment could be justified in such a "unique case of manslaughter".

Connolly's co-accused, Roy Kennett, 29, was jailed for two years for manslaughter and breaching health and safety laws.

HOW HR2all CAN HELP...

Health and Safety

Whatever industry you operate within, the health and safety of your employees, along with visitors to your site, should be of primary concern.

Beprostaff will:

Ultimately a person's life and your freedom could rest on your actions.