Remedies and penalties

New and updated

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Breach of contract: nominal damages for misuse of confidential information

  The High Court has held that two ex-employees breached their contracts of employment by misusing confidential information belonging to their former employer's business. However, the High Court found that the employer had not suffered any financial loss and that it was entitled to only nominal damages of £1 from each employee.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Agency workers: calculating compensation when hirer liable for breach

  The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has confirmed the correct approach that tribunals should follow when calculating compensation for an infringement of reg.5(1) of the Agency Workers Regulations 2010.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Sexual harassment award: £14,000 for injury to feelings not excessive

  The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has upheld an employment tribunal decision to award £14,000 for injury to feelings after a young lawyer was subjected to sexual harassment in the workplace and forced out of her job. Zoe Lomax, employment associate at DLA Piper, examines the decision including the level of compensation dictated by the Vento bands.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Sex discrimination: £28,321 award over Network Rail's policy on enhanced shared parental pay

  An employment tribunal in Scotland has awarded £28,321 to a Network Rail employee over his employer's policy of giving a period of full pay to mothers and primary adopters on shared parental leave, but paying only statutory shared parental pay to partners and secondary adopters.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Compensation uplift: Acas code of practice does not apply to ill-health dismissal involving no culpable conduct

  In Holmes v Qinetiq Ltd [2016] IRLR 664 EAT, the EAT held the "Acas code of practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures" has no application where an employer does not allege culpable conduct by an employee. Accordingly, no uplift to compensation under s.207A of TULR(C)A could be applied where the employee was unfairly dismissed on ill-health grounds.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Case round-up

  Chris Cook is partner and head of employment and Keely Rushmore is senior associate at SA Law. They round up the latest rulings.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Tribunal remedies round-up: discrimination arising from disability

  We round up three recent employment tribunal awards for discrimination arising from disability under the Equality Act 2010. The compensation awarded in these three cases totals over £25,000.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Employment tribunal awards damages of one month's salary where job offer withdrawn

  An employment tribunal has awarded a claimant damages for breach of contract where he verbally accepted a job offer made by the employment agency acting for the employer, and the employer subsequently withdrew the offer.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Compensation: employer failing to provide rest breaks not liable for injury to feelings

  The Employment Appeal Tribunal has considered if a tribunal can award compensation to an employee for injury to feelings where the employer fails to provide 20-minute rest breaks in breach of the Working Time Regulations 1998.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Case round-up

  Lauren Evans, Iain Naylor, David Rintoul, Lucy Sorell and Rachael Wake are associates at Addleshaw Goddard LLP. They round up the latest rulings.