Recently in Unfair Dismissal Category

A McDonald's waitress has won £3,000 after being fired for gross misconduct, after being accused by her bosses of giving too much chocolate topping to a colleague on an ice cream 'McFlurry'.

Sarah Finch, 19, had worked at the Carmarthen branch of McDonald's in West Wales for 18 months and, because she had started her job before 6^th April 2012, was entitled to bring a claim for compensation against her employer for unfair dismissal.

After being dismissed, Ms Finch brought a claim against franchisee Lonetree, who run several McDonald's restaurants under licence.

Michael Woodford, the British businessman who was fired by Japanese electronics giant Olympus Corporation just two weeks after taking up the post, will this week begin a claim for unfair dismissal.

Mr Woodford was promoted from chief operating officer to chief executive in October 2011. However, he was removed just two weeks later, shortly before the company lost 75% of its share price.

The record losses in the Olympus share price were precipitated by suspicions surrounding payments made by the company during various corporate acquisitions dating back to the early 1990s.

Business Secretary Vince Cable has rejected the recently leaked report that recommended unfair dismissal be scrapped and replaced with 'no fault' dismissals.

The report, written for Downing Street by Tory party donor Adrian Beecroft, will not be made public and was claimed by Mr Cable's aides to be unofficial and not officially commissioned.

It stated that unfair dismissal claims are a great drain on business, especially in the public sector, since the fear of reprisal means that employers allow unsatisfactory employees to "coast along" without firing them.

Following a consultation which concluded in April this year, the Government stated yesterday (28 September) that they have made "no final decision" on the proposed extension of the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims.

The new rules would mean employees would have to be with a company for two years rather than just one in order to be eligible to make an unfair dismissal claim.

Unions are vehemently opposed to such a change, as well as opposing other plans to introduce fees for employees wishing to sue their employers at a tribunal.

Following his dismissal from his post as governor of the Tower of London after making inappropriate comments about Beefeaters, Maj Gen Keith Cima claimed for unfair dismissal.

He believed that he was sacked by the Tower's management company, Historic Royal Palaces (HRP), because he exposed malpractice at the attraction and also because he confronted the bullies who were previously sacked for their treatment of Moira Cameron, the first female Beefeater.

The man accused of bullying, Mark Sanders-Cook, was later given an apology and a settlement, which Gen Cima opposed saying that HRP had "prostituted itself" by giving Mr Sanders-Cook money.

Following the unexpected closure of the infamous News of the World newspaper, some 200 journalists will find themselves out of work after being told they would receive a 90-day payment in lieu of a consultation.

The Sunday paper, in existence for 168 years and bought by Rupert Murdoch in 1969, was brought into disrepute after allegations of phone-hacking and paying police for information about stories were made against it.

The National Union of Journalists claim the payment is merely an "act of damage limitation". They said: "This outrageous manipulation of the legal right to be consulted on redundancies shows the contempt that the Murdoch empire has for its loyal staff. True to form, he believes he can buy his way out of his obligations."

A model and former Oxford University graduate has won her case for unfair dismissal after being fired for accusing a charity of siphoning off public funds.

Robina Husain-Naviatti, 38, was deputy director of Forensic Therapies when she noticed alleged irregularities in the finances of the charity. The charity offers prisoner counselling.

The Daily Express website claimed Husain-Naviatti first alerted trustees that a £535,000 government grant had only been recorded as £240,000 in a business plan.

Chelsea football club have agreed compensation with their sacked coach Ray Wilkins after the former England star and Chelsea coach threatened legal action for unfair dismissal.

The ex-Chelsea first team coach and former club captain reached an 'amicable' resolution over his abrupt departure from Stamford Bridge on 11 November.

Wilkins hired employment law solicitors to professionally handle his case for unfair dismissal. Wilkins was told by his former employers his contract, due to end at the end of the 2010/11 football season, would not be renewed and he would have his contract terminated with immediate effect.

A former store manager at Lidl initiated tribunal action for unfair dismissal this week claiming the supermarket chain unlawfully sacked him after he accidentally hit and damaged a co-worker's vehicle.

Amir Hamza, 24, worked at the company's store on Cartersfield Road, Waltham Abbey for four years. Lidl sacked him in mid-November for gross misconduct after he failed to report the damage.

When confronted about it, Mr Hamza denied he was involved, before finally confessing when he was shown CCTV evidence and witness statements.

"I didn't realise," he said. "I had a CD player on in the car and didn't notice hitting anything. When they told me they had witnesses, I said fair enough and took responsibility."

A senior council executive sacked during cancer therapy launched claims for libel, unfair dismissal, disability discrimination, and sex discrimination against her former employer this week.

Jeanette McGarry earned £123,000-a-year as director of housing environmental and neighbourhood services (HENS) at Stoke-on-Trent City Council.

Shortly after assuming her position in June 2009, however, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She asked to work part-time while she completed her treatment, but the council refused and instead put her on "gardening leave".

Then, to compound matters, on the day she returned home following surgery she received a dismissal letter. The council's chief executive, John van de Laarschot, also issued a statement questioning her performance and conduct as HNES director.

A Scottish primary school teacher looks set to be struck off the teaching register after she helped set up a website advertising 'naughty schoolgirl' uniforms for adults, reports the Press and Journal.

Linda Ross, 58, of Strangs Ley, Forfar, lost her job as deputy head teacher at Dundee's Longhaugh Primary School in October 2008 after education bosses learned about her involvement with the site -- www.lindaross.co.uk -- run by her husband Vic.

Mr Ross established the website in 2007 to help teachers deal with stress and highlight the abuse they suffer.

He allowed adverts to pop up on the site, however, selling "adult" costumes and underwear. One such ad featured a model wearing a "see-through crop-top and plaid miniskirt with a matching tie and gloves", according to the Scotsman. Other items for sale included a kinky policewoman's outfit, complete with handcuffs.

A giddy young banker who was dismissed for gross misconduct after she boasted on Facebook about the size of her severance payout launched a legal challenge for unfair dismissal this week.

23-year-old Katie Furlong used to work as a debt officer for Royal Bank of Scotland in Telford in Staffordshire. On September 2, following the bank's takeover by Santander Group, she received a call from her manager informing her that she was being laid off and would receive a severance payment of around £6,000 ($9,500/Ä7,000)

Moments later, at 5.58pm, Ms Furlong posted the following comments on Facebook:

According to a report in the Daily Express newspaper, Ray Wilkins was sacked by Chelsea because of bust-ups with billionaire owner Roman Abramovich and chief executive Ron Gourlay -- and not, as previously reported in the Guardian, because first-team players were 'unconvinced by his ability'.

A former night porter at the college of Lady Margaret Hall at Oxford University appeared before an employment tribunal this week claiming he was unfairly dismissed because he 'knew too much' about student indiscretions at the college.

In a story evoking Tom Sharpe's novel Porterhouse Blue, Terence Greenwood, 65, said he enjoyed a close relationship with students at Lady Margaret Hall and made many friends during his time working at the college.

The popular porter fell out with his supervisor Lawrence Le Carre, however, for covering up student misdemeanours. In one incident, for example, a student got so drunk one night he soiled his own bed. Mr Greenwood refused to reveal the identity of the student to Mr Le Carre, which led to an argument in which he was told he was wrong to keep quiet.

A dance teacher has won his employment tribunal claim for race discrimination against Bristol City Council after he was wrongly accused of assaulting two pupils.

The case against traditional Caribbean dance instructor Ripton Lindsay went all the way to magistrates' court before he was exonerated last December.