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 NEWS
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01 Feb 2010 - Safeway continues with groundbreaking attempt to sue ex-employees for price fixing
Safeway has been given permission to continue pursue a groundbreaking lawsuit against former employees and directors in which they are seeking to recover competition law fines from the ex-employees and directors involved in the breaches.
The High Court has rejected an attempt by the ex-employees and directors involved to have the case thrown out of court. It said that because Safeway has a prospect of successfully rebutting the defendants' key arguments in the case then it should go ahead.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) investigated some supermarkets, including Safeway, over the collusion between shop chains and dairy companies in relation to retail prices for dairy products.
Safeway made a deal with the OFT covering its activity up to the point when it was acquired by rival Morrisons, which continues to dispute the OFT's allegations.
Safeway faces a fine of £16 million, which may in due course be reduced to nearly £11m because of its co-operation with the OFT.
The company then launched a suit against ex-employees and directors seeking damages and compensation because, it says, those ex-employees and directors were responsible for some of the infringing behaviour in breach of their contracts and duties to the company.
Competition law expert Adrian Wood said that the case is unique. "This is the first known reported case in the English courts in which a company infringing competition law has sought to recover damages against former personnel who are alleged to be the perpetrators of the relevant anti-competitive behaviour," he said.
The case is in its preliminary stages
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25 Jan 2010 - Tribunal hears that female boss told delivery driver he 'stank of body odour'
Delivery driver Alex Frowd, 26, has been awarded £3,000 by an employment tribunal after he claimed his female boss bullied him and said he "stank of body odour".
Mr Frowd, of Newport, Gwent, said office manager Julie Cummings was "so aggressive" he feared she would punch him.
He said: "She was worse than any male boss I've ever had. Julie's attitude towards me was very aggressive, adversarial and confrontational. I found it very difficult being around her and I even took my breaks outside the office to be away from her."
Mr Frowd told the hearing in Cardiff that he was sacked after Mrs Cummings, 40, allegedly accused him of "stinking of BO" in their offices. He said he had enjoyed a "good relationship" with Mrs Cummings when he joined Hex Holdings in Tremorfa, Cardiff, three years ago, but that soon changed.
"She treated me like an unpaid servant and I was at her beck and call especially to go and find her meals at any time of day. Once when an empty Coke can was found in my van she lost all control and was shouting and screaming at me. I was terrified she was going to hit me and after that I left the office when I was on a break just to get away from her," he said.
Mrs Cummings told the hearing that Mr Frowd was sacked after being seen parked up at least four times near their offices instead of working. She said: "He made no allegations of bullying and harassment when he was working here."
But the tribunal ruled the company failed to follow proper procedures in sacking him from his £240-a-week job and he was awarded £3,300 compensation for unfair dismissal.
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18 Jan 2010 - £150k payout for 'bullied' Hospital Information Manager
Hospital information manager Nanette Bowen, 55, has been awarded £150,000 compensation after claims that she was bullied at work.
Swansea County Court heard that Mrs Bowen was harassed after a new boss began at Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli in 2000. Her union said Mrs Bowen had panic attacks and stress and could no longer work.
The Hywel Dda Local Health Board, which now runs the hospital, said it had reviewed the case and additional training was now being given to staff.
Mrs Bowen, from Llanelli, had been employed at Prince Philip for 28 years, working her way up the ranks from a porter to information manager. Her union Unison said in 2000 she was given a new boss who made sexual innuendos towards her and he was regularly aggressive when challenged.
Over the next three years her responsibility for hiring staff was removed, she was not allowed to pass on information to staff without his consent and had to fill in a daily form for him to monitor her work.
Unison said the harassment caused Mrs Bowen, who was the main breadwinner in the family, stress and panic attacks. She was signed off sick and, on one occasion, she was rushed to hospital with a suspected heart attack.
The county court found Carmarthenshire NHS Trust liable last February and the parties involved have now settled on compensation. Mrs Bowen said: "I am relieved that the case has finished, but this is not like winning the lottery, as the money can never make up for my life being ruined.
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