Glasgow Employment Law Blog

A chef who was dismissed from West End restaurant Cail Bruich has been awarded over £15,000 at an employment tribunal after citing unfair dismissal.

Christopher Hillis, who has worked as chef de partie at the Glasgow restaurant, was being paid less than the minimum wage, and when he asked the owners of the restaurant about the wages, he received an abusive text message dismissing him a few days later.

The Scottish Government has launched a bid to abolish employment tribunal fees after powers were transferred to Holyrood from Westminster.

The proposals, which were laid out in the government’s programme for 2015-16 will abolish employment tribunal fees once it is "clear on how the transfer of powers and responsibilities" The move will only occur after consultation “in the shape of services that can best support people’s access to employment justice as part of the transfer of the powers of Employment Tribunals to Scotland.”

Five swimming centre managers have been dismissed after claims that staff were paid more overtime than colleagues at other sporting facilities. However, satff are set to take legal action citing unfair dismissal.

The dismissals come following a probe by Glasgow Life, Glasgow City Council, arms-length management organisation. The investigation found that 33% more overtime had been signed off at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre than any other Glasgow Life run site. The main issue was that the overtime was given when the pool was undergoing a £14-million refurbishment for the Commonwealth Games.

More than one in ten employees are willing to strike a compromise deal with their employer when they have a grievance rather than go to an employment tribunal.

In a  new report, the Trade Union Congress (TUC), has stated that employment tribunal fees have been ‘a huge victory for Britain’s worst bosses’. The report published on 29 July, marks the first anniversary of the introduction of charges for employment tribunals.

New laws, which came into effect earlier this month, now require anyone thinking of bringing an Employment Tribunal claim to first notify Acas through its Early Conciliation service.

Early Conciliation, introduced through new Regulations, will have to be followed by any body involved in a workplace dispute which may lead to an employment tribunal, such as:

Low-paid prudent savers could have to raid their savings to take their employer to an employment tribunal, according to the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) leader John Hannett.

The introduction of employment tribunal fees, which came into effect on 29th July, could lead to an increased ‘pay-off’ culture in the UK, an employment expert has warned.