David Malamatenios and Georgina Kyriacou are partners, and Krishna Santra, Colin Makin and Sandra Martins are associates at Colman Coyle Solicitors. They round up the latest rulings.
This case demonstrates the importance of employers complying with the terms of contractual staff handbooks and dealing with grievance appeals properly.
In this unusual case, an employee was dismissed and offered reinstatement on appeal, before purportedly resigning due to the terms of the reinstatement.
The Court of Appeal has held that an employer in the financial sector that poached staff from a rival could not enforce dishonestly obtained forward contracts with employees who later decided not to move.
This case is a reminder to employers of the dangers of making fundamental changes to an employee's job when attempting to cut costs during a business downturn.
In this case, an employment tribunal held that the heavy-handed way in which a manager dealt with suspected unauthorised absence entitled the employee to resign and claim unfair dismissal.
The employer in this case attempted to recoup commission from an employee, but had removed the clause in his contract of employment that entitled it to make deductions from his wages, leading to the employee's constructive dismissal.