There is no common law contractual remedy for financial or other loss allegedly flowing from the manner or circumstances of an employee's dismissal, holds the House of Lords in Johnson v Unisys Ltd.
In a case where misconduct is admitted by the employee, the requirement of reasonableness in s.98(4) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 relates not only to the outcome in terms of the penalty imposed by the employer, but also to the process by which the employer arrived at that decision, holds the Court of Appeal in Whitbread plc (trading as Whitbread Medway Inns) v Hall.
Where a contract of employment provided that "the employer may make a payment in lieu of notice to the employee" and the employer chose to summarily dismiss the employee without cause or pay in lieu of notice, the employee's claim was for damages for wrongful dismissal, subject to his duty to mitigate his loss, and not for a sum due under the contract, holds the Court of Appeal, by a majority, in Cerberus Software Ltd v Rowley.
In Macfarlane and another v Glasgow City Council [2001] IRLR 7 EAT, the EAT held that, despite a clause in the worker's contract expressly entitling the worker to substitute a replacement to do the work if unable to attend work, the worker was deemed to be an employee rather than a sub-contractor.