Dismissal
Where an employee is wrongfully dismissed, any outstanding contractual obligations of the injured employee are extinguished upon the ending of the employment contract, holds the High Court in Briggs v Oates.
In Catherine Haigh Harlequin Hair Design v Seed the EAT holds that in order for an employee to be able to complain that the written reasons for dismissal given to her by her employer were "inadequate or untrue", those reasons must have been furnished in response to a specific request from the employee in question.
In Prestwick Circuits Ltd v McAndrew [1990] IRLR 191 CS, the Court of Session held that the implied right to order a transfer from one place of employment to another must be subject to the implied qualification that reasonable notice must be given in all the circumstances of the case.
It was not unfair for a local education authority to dismiss three lecturers for redundancy without reference to their college's governors, even though their lecturers' contracts of employment contemplated that the governors would decide whether to dismiss.
A unilateral increase in hours of work without consultation constituted a breach of contract entitling employees to resign and claim constructive dismissal, the EAT holds in Humphreys & Glasgow Ltd v Broom and Holt*.
In Hooper v British Railways Board [1988] IRLR 517 CA, the Court of Appeal held that the terms of a negotiated agreement, which provided that a member of staff who was declared fit by his own doctor but did not meet the medical standards required by the Board's doctor "shall be paid the basic rate of pay appropriate to his grade until such time as he resumes work either in his own post or on other suitable work", meant that the employee had a contractual right to be kept on full pay until such time as he was redeployed or reached retirement age.
In Courtaulds Northern Spinning Ltd v Sibson the Court of Appeal considers whether the transfer of an employee, a heavy goods vehicle driver, from one depot to a depot one mile away breached the employee's contract of employment.
In Dietman v London Borough of Brent the Court of Appeal upholds the High Court's ruling that a local authority acted unlawfully when it dismissed a senior social worker for gross negligence without holding a disciplinary hearing in accordance with its disciplinary procedure.
In Elder v Clydebank Co-operative Society Ltd the EAT in Scotland orders a rehearing of a constructive dismissal complaint after an industrial tribunal failed to consider whether an employers' refusal to allow an employee to appeal against a decision to transfer her to another branch amounted to constructive dismissal.
In Rigby v Ferodo Ltd the House of Lords confirms that employees whose wages are reduced without their consent are entitled to claim the full amount of their continuing loss, and are not limited to a claim for the loss suffered during their notice period.
Employment law cases: HR and legal information and guidance relating to dismissal.