Back to the grind…

Returning to work from a week or so off is always a tough one but my recent (and first) ‘staycation’ was great.

I’d never holidayed in the UK before and was bit sceptical prior to leaving, but I have to admit, it was a raging success. Plenty of fresh, northern air, vibrant culture, unhealthy food and lots of downtime was just what the doctor ordered. 

Now he just needs to unclog my arteries.

We were moving around a bit and I had toyed with the idea of doing ‘blawging roadtrip’ – Law Actually style.  Despite that prospect going down like a cup of cold sick with my gf, when it actually came to it, I simply couldn’t be bothered and was glad of the break.  Maybe I’m not into blogging as much as I thought!

Although I tethered my smartphone to my laptop whilst we were away, I’ve not been online an awful lot.  The result:

• Google reader is clogged up to hell (it’s given up and just said ‘1000+’ unread feeds)… I’ve have to resort to doing batches of ‘mark all as read’.
• Inbox is full of sh*t (nothing new there then) and my work emails already have me on the cusp of a series of panic attacks.
• World events seem to have passed me by entirely… what’s all this about a campsite?

GF and I had a serious talk on the way back on Friday night whilst she was bombing down the motorway being a middle lane hog as usual driving absolutely at the legal speed and in full compliance with every aspect of the Highway Code about managing my ‘work-life balance’.  My phrase – not hers.  I don’t think she’s happy. 

But all’s well that ends well hopefully.

Still, the blawgosphere seems to have ticked over nicely.

Missed me?
Nah - thought not.

Top three discrimination claims at Employment Tribunals

Sponsored Post:

Statistics from the Employment Tribunal Services have revealed the top three discrimination claims in terms of the average compensation payouts awarded in 2010/11.

The discrimination claim with the highest average payout was age discrimination with a staggering £30,289. This average has risen from £10,931 in 2009/10, quite a significant leap. In addition, the number of age discrimination claims accepted by Tribunals rose by nearly a third to 6,800.

This may have to do with the number of high profile age discrimination claims in the media prompting those with complaints to contact an employment law solicitor. For example, the case of BBC presenter Miriam O’Reilly, who successfully claimed age discrimination against the broadcaster when they fired her from Countryfile.

The rising figure may also reflect the additional protections given to employees in relation to age discrimination in the Equality Act 2010. Although age was protected under employment law prior to 2010, the new Act expanded that protection to include harassment from a third party who is not employed by the employer, and discrimination by association – when a person is discriminated against because they are associated with a person who is protected by the Act.

The second highest average payout was received by claimants with disability discrimination claims. The average payout for 2010/11 was £14,137, quite a difference from the average payout for an age discrimination claim. In fact, the average payout for disability claims fell by a third from the previous year.

46% of disability discrimination claims were settled by the Acas conciliation service, which could explain the decrease in the average Tribunal payout if the higher payouts for disability discrimination were made during this process instead.

Employment solicitors may recommend Acas conciliation before making a claim to a Tribunal, as it can help to resolve a matter more quickly.

The third highest average payout was for sexual discrimination claims. Despite having the highest number of claims accepted by Employment Tribunals (18,300), the average payout was £13,911.

The highest payout in 2010/11 for a sexual harassment claim was for a whopping £289,167; however, 97% of the payouts were under £50,000, which lowered the average.

Interestingly, almost half (49%) of all sexual harassment claims were withdrawn. Claimants may have withdrawn their claims on the advice of their no-win, no-fee employment solicitors, or because they had settled the claim without the need to go to Tribunal.

Normal service shall resume shortly

Apologies for the radio silence, folks – I’ve been away on a short holiday of sorts.

We’re due to get back late tomorrow so at least I shall have the weekend to slowly return to reality. 

Who knows, I might even get around to a little blogging…

Ooh–piece of candy… Ooh–piece of candy…

From BBC News 01/09/11:

A chocolate "trail" led to the capture of a drunken thief, a court in Devon has been told.

Mark Rye, 29, of Fore Street, Exeter, was "off his face" when he broke into a Co-operative store in the city in May, stealing alcohol and sweets.

Devon and Cornwall Police were able to track him down by following a trail of dropped Minstrels chocolates.

I wonder if PC Plod followed the trail of Minstrels a la James Woods in Family Guy.
 

Rye, who admitted burglary and drugs charges, was jailed at Exeter Crown Court for three years and nine months.

The burglar, who lived near the store, was caught on CCTV.

Defence lawyer Gareth Evans said: "He lives just around the corner and the CCTV covers that road. It was crass stupidity.

And here’s the charming chap himself.

No, I didn’t have him down as a Minstrel eater either. 

Refreshingly honest legal recruitment ad? Oh wait...

From Roll on Friday 02/09/11:

Orrick, Herrington & Suttcliffe has apologised after advertising a job for which the "ideal candidate" would be no older than 30.

The US firm posted an ad on its website looking for a European Corporate lawyer to join its Rome office. The ideal candidate would need very strong academics - "a magna cum laude Italian degree in law, a classical lyceum diploma with full marks, and an LLM degree possibly with merit or distinction" - and would enjoy working in a young environment. Which is just as well, seeing that they "would be 26-30 years old".

A spokeswoman for the firm said that "the advertisement was clearly an error and in no way reflects the firm's commitment to equality of opportunity. The advertisement has now been removed from our website. We apologise for any offence this may have caused".

Ah – it was that damn external recruitment consultancy, eh? Those guys!!!

But really, come on, you lot. You can think it (and let’s not pretend otherwise) you can practice it, you just can’t say it out loud.

Ahem.

If it ever comes to recruiting staff for Law Actually, I think I’d better get some help drafting the advertisements. Otherwise I shudder to think of the gross contravention of discrimination law that might come to pass.

Well, you know people are like throwing allegations about. 

Paintballing and popping jahooblies

Yep – it’s all going on down in Croydon!

From the Metro 24/08/11:

Female adrenaline junkies with breast implants are being offered extra protection at a paintball centre in Croydon.

The move comes after a 26-year-old woman, who declined to be named, suffered a ruptured implant after being shot in the chest at the UK Paintball centre last weekend.

Yowzers!

'It came as a real surprise to hear that a woman had her implant burst at one of our centres’.

Additional padding will now be offered to all female participants with breast implants in a bid to make sure something similar does not occur again.

I don’t imagine there’ll be a shortage of willing male attendants to pad these ladies up and make sure everything’s nicely in place. (As it were).

Actually, I’m sort of surprised that additional padding wasn’t available for ladies anyway. I always thought ‘aim for the chest’ was a golden rule and, well, y’know – that’s gotta hurt!

The incident, thought to be the first of its kind in the UK, has also prompted the centre to add a new line to its disclaimer notice.

Ah… here we go!  If you’re running a paintball centre and breast implants are going to start exploding every which way like a bag full of popcorn in the microwave, it’s definitely time to consult your lawyer to see what prudent steps can be taken against those fake-boobed ladies with a litigious streak.

Participants are now required to indicate that they understand paintballs have the potential to rupture breast implants, as well as recognising the possibility of injury during the activity, which is favoured by stag and hen parties.

Sounds about right; from what I’ve heard, the typical stag and hen party absolutely favour the possibility of injuries. 

But really? Paintball injury claims? Stag and Hen party injury claims? What are personal injury solicitors going to be salivating over next?

Fear of email

I have a love / hate thing going on with email but up until recently, it was always more love than hate.

More recently though, I’ve been finding it’s starting to shred my nerves and whatever little is left of my sanity. 

I have all of my work email accounts set up on my home computers and on my smartphone as well. This has been fine for a year or so but now it’s starting to send me over the edge. At least on a PC I have control whether I open Outlook (I only use Outlook for work email), but I’m finding myself avoiding switching on 3G on my phone when commuting home now for fear of what might next emerge. 

But it gets worse; several times now when I'm in front of a computer, I’ve actually found myself imagining Outlook's email notification ping and pop-up in the bottom right hand corner of the screen and I find my eyes darting down there and shuddering at what new trauma awaits.

When I see that no new email has in fact arrived, I’m left with mixed feelings of relief and concern.

That can't be healthy. I think I need a holiday.