A Glutton for Punishment - The Commando Challenge, Again!

Some of you may remember that last year our Office Manager, Vickie Lennard, took the plunge and went in for the Commando Challenge which is held on the Royal Marines Endurance Course each year in Lympstone, Devon. This year she is doing it again and as a Princess! Last year the team undertook the challenge as mums and girlfriends of Royal Marines and were therefore dressed accordingly in camouflage. This year it is all about the GIRLS!! Hence the team name of "Primark Princesses" and therefore they will be undertaking the Commando Challenge in dresses and tiaras! The team is made up of Vickie, her niece Bryony (who is 17) and a friend of her son, Corinne who is 21. Vickie says that she needs all the encouragement she can get just to try and keep up with the “youngsters”.

We have seen the photographs taken last year and can’t wait to find out what the team are going to look like at the end of the course this year!!

The Challenge is in aid of The Royal Marines Benevolent Fund and Devon Air Ambulance - both very worthwhile charities - so, if you are able to donate please visit:

http://www.justgiving.com/Primark-Princesses

RECESSION BLAMED AS WORK TRIBUNAL CASES SOAR BY 50%

by Steve Doughty, Social Affairs Correspondent, Daily Mail.

Employment tribunal cases soared by more than 50 per cent last year as recession-hit workers tried to claw compensation from their bosses!

The industrial courts granted an estimated £1billion in payouts to those who claimed they had been wrongly dismissed or suffered discrimination.  In all 236,100 workers brought claims to the tribunals in the financial year that ended in March, up from 151,000 in the previous year and three times the numbers of the late 1990’s.

Some workers claimed they had been wronged in more than one way, meaning the total number of claims reached 392,800.  The pressure of compensation claims on tribunals is such that some have adopted an “open all hours” policy, running sessions during evenings and on Saturdays to meet the demand.

Kevin Sadler, chief executive of the Tribunals Service said yesterday that there was a “steeply growing workload” and added “There is no doubt that economic conditions have contributed to an increase in the number of cases received”.

The greatest jump came in claims under European legislation. Number of cases involving the European Working Time Directive – which limits the working week to 48 hours – almost quadrupled in a year from 24,000 to 95,200.  The directive, written into British law by Tony Blair’s government in 1998 is already reckoned to be costing the NHS nearly £4billion a year because it restricts the hours of junior doctors. Brussels is currently threatening to end the opt-out system that allows workers in this county the right to choose to work longer.

There were also a growing number of multiple claims in which large numbers of staff took out tribunal actions against a single employer.  The collapse of Woolworths brought multiple unfair dismissal claims; the rush of equal pay cases against local councils by groups of workers encouraged by unions has continued; and there have been multiple claims connected to the BA cabin crew dispute.

Numbers of race discrimination claims have gone up by nearly 40 per cent in two years to reach 5,700 last year.  There were also big increases in claims over alleged discrimination on grounds of disability, religion, sexual orientation and age.  Some claimants left their tribunal with compensation awards on the scale of a lottery win.  The biggest payout was £729,347 in a disability discrimination case.

For sex discrimination to the top awarded was £442,366 and the most successful race discrimination claimant won £374,922.  Amounts handed out to those who showed they had suffered poor treatment because of their age were lower with the biggest award being £48,710.  More than four out of ten cases settled last year ended with compensation awards, either ordered by tribunals or negotiated by the conciliation service ACAS.  The average payment was more than £9,000 in unfair dismissal cases and over £50,000 for those who suffered disability discrimination.

There are no records of what happened in the third of cases that were withdrawn before they came to a tribunal. In many of these employers will have settled out of court.

MAD MOPED MARATHON FOR HELP FOR HEROES

Two young men recently decided to do something a little strange for their summer holiday this year. Instead of going off on their big motorbikes and touring the country (or even the continent) they have decided to try to complete a charity marathon for Help for Heroes.

Brooks & Partners are very pleased to have given sponsorship to Lorry Lennard (who is the son of our office manager) and Tom Linsell who are setting off on the 21st August to travel from Lands End to John ‘O Groates by means of “moped power”, but with a difference. The distance involved is 874 miles and in this day and age it is easy to cover this by car or large capacity bike, therefore they set themselves a “top gear” type challenge and introduced rules and criteria to make it more interesting and a lot more difficult.

One of Lorry and Tom’s best friends is a Royal Marine as is Lorry’s younger brother (who worked at Brooks & Partners for three years) and both lads are keen to do their bit to help British Forces. When asked why they were undertaking this incredible journey Tom said “If someone risked their life to save your way of life or even your life itself you would be very grateful. That is exactly what these guys do day in and day out.” Lorry added “The people who will benefit from all the donations that are made have already put their life on the line for all of us and continue to do so; we just want to do something to help”.

If you are able to give a donation please go to: http://www.justgiving.co.uk/mopedmarathon and keep up to date on their progress via http://blog.madmopedmarathon.co.uk