Almost every day there seems to be yet another high profile employment case in the newspapers. Why is this? Well, firstly there are more cases going through the Employment Tribunals, where an increase of 15% was recorded in the most recent figures published. Given the economic climate it can only be expected that the number will rise again in 2009.
Generally speaking, employment disputes attract media coverage because they have a very strong human element which is attractive to Editors, who understand what their readers are interested in and relate to. Typically, the claimant will be portrayed by the media as something of a David battling a corporate Goliath and taking on deeply entrenched vested interests.
The media will usually focus on alleged wrong doings by the employer, how the employee claims to have been treated, the perceived culture of the workplace, allegations of extreme bad behaviour such as drug abuse and, of course, whatever sum they decide to report as being claimed money-wise.
Allegations of sexual misconduct would also feature in these stories, were it not for ET rules and the issuance of Restricted Reporting Orders (RROs) in such cases. If the defendant in question is a household name, such as a bank, a FTSE 100 company or a celebrity, then you can expect media interest to intensify dramatically.
Even a cursory news search will reveal numerous examples of how the media feed off employment disputes. Mona Awad, a Muslim bank manager who claims she was accused of trying to sleep her way to the top is suing Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) for damages of £16.7m for sex, race and religious discrimination. This was widely reported in the national newspapers, both tabloid and broadsheet. The case is being dealt with by Nottingham Employment Tribunal.