In Atherton v Bensons Vending Ltd, an employment tribunal held that a small employer fairly dismissed an employee who made a personal attack on the managing director on Facebook. However, the claimant's wrongful dismissal was upheld because the employer could not show that his behaviour was so serious that it was entitled to dismiss him without notice pay.
Amanda Steadman is a professional support lawyer, Iain Naylor, Lucy Sorell and Rachael Wake are associates, and Jessica-Alice Curtis is a trainee solicitor at Addleshaw Goddard LLP. They round up the latest rulings.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that, where there is no express term in a contract of employment that the employer will pay the employee for any accrued but untaken flexitime on his or her departure, there is no need to imply such a term into the contract.
This employer's laissez-faire approach to the carry-over of holiday into subsequent annual leave years resulted in an employment tribunal ordering it to pay an employee £4,272 in holiday pay when she was made redundant.
This employment tribunal held that employers should not circumvent the requirement to pay a departing worker for holiday that he or she has accrued but not taken by providing in the contract of employment that the worker will be entitled only to a nominal sum.
The Court of Appeal has held that an NHS worker who was absent for the whole leave year and who did not submit any requests for annual leave during her absence was entitled to holiday pay on the termination of her employment.
The Court of Appeal has held that a debt claim for a company's failure to provide pay in lieu of notice to a former employee could not be defended by the discovery after the termination of employment that he committed gross misconduct while in employment.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that employees on sick leave must, to be paid for holiday under the Working Time Regulations 1998, give the required statutory notice during the relevant leave year of their intention to take that holiday.