Dismissed because of personal relationships

Personal relationships between employees of competing organisations can raise issues of confidentiality. In Jewess v JSB Electrical plc 5 August 1993; Case No: 01761/93, a Manchester industrial tribunal (Chair: E T Connolly) rules that a woman who was dismissed because her relationship with a former male employee who had left to work for a competitor was still continuing and her employer believed that information about the business would be passed to the competitor was not unlawful discrimination. However, in Phillips v Promould Ltd 12 January 1994; Case No: 23294/93, a Reading industrial tribunal (Chair: N Jenkinson) rules that it was unlawful discrimination to dismiss the wife of a former employee who had gone to work for a competitor.