Dismissal

New and updated

• Date:

  15 March 1997

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Redundancy: "Sham" appeal process rendered selection unfair

  An assessment system under which employees were selected for redundancy without individual consultation on the basis of undisclosed marks awarded by their employer gave employees no meaningful opportunity to challenge the decisions made, holds the EAT in John Brown Engineering Ltd v Brown and others.

• Date:

  15 February 1997

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Contract of employment: Wrongful dismissal released employee from contractual obligations

  An employee who was dismissed without notice in breach of his contract of employment was released from the further performance of that contract and so was not bound by his contractual obligation to repay relocation expenses received from his employer, holds the EAT in Pearce v Roy T Ward (Consultants) Ltd.

• Date:

  15 January 1997

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Wrongful dismissal: Damages awarded for loss of salary increases

  The service contract of a company chief executive imposed a contractual obligation on his employer to review and provide an annual upward adjustment in salary, holds the High Court in Clark v BET plc and another.

• Date:

  1 January 1997

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Misconduct: Drunken employees were unfairly dismissed

  In Williams and others v Whitbread Beer Co the Court of Appeal restores the decision of an industrial tribunal that an employer unfairly dismissed three employees for drunken, abusive and violent behaviour in circumstances where the misconduct took place outside work and where it was the employer who had provided the opportunity for the employees to drink.

• Date:

  1 December 1996

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Selkent Bus Co Ltd t/a Stagecoach Selkent v Moore

  In Selkent Bus Co Ltd t/a Stagecoach Selkent v Moore [1996] IRLR 661 EAT, the EAT set out guidance to industrial tribunals on the criteria to take into account in deciding whether to grant leave for amendment of an originating application.

• Date:

  1 November 1996

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Redundancy: Relevance of "Compair Maxam guidelines"

  In Akzo Coatings plc v Thompson and others, the EAT holds that an industrial tribunal erred in law in applying the guidelines on redundancy selection in Williams and others v Compair Maxam Ltd to the way in which an employer dealt with the possibility of alternative employment for redundant employees.

• Date:

  1 August 1996

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Dismissal: Imposition of new terms amounted to express dismissal

  The unilateral imposition of a continuous rolling shift pattern in place of the traditional shifts previously worked by employees in accordance with their contracts amounted to an express dismissal of those employees, who reserved their right to complain of unfair dismissal even though they worked under the new system, holds the EAT in Alcan Extrusions v Yates and others.

• Date:

  15 June 1996

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Transfer of undertakings: Employee's objection to transfer meant no dismissal

  An industrial tribunal was entitled to find that an employee objected to transferring to a new employer and informed his employer of that objection, holds the EAT in Hay v George Hanson (Building Contractors) Ltd.

• Date:

  15 June 1996

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Implied terms: No implied contractual right to enhanced redundancy pay

  In Quinn and others v Calder Industrial Materials Ltd the EAT upholds an industrial tribunal's ruling that the employer was not in breach of contract by failing to make enhanced redundancy payments to redundant employees.

• Date:

  15 June 1996

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Misconduct: Aggravating factors justified disparity of treatment

  An employee was fairly dismissed for misconduct even though another employee who was guilty of the same conduct was treated differently and given a final written warning, holds the EAT in London Borough of Harrow v Cunningham.