Unfair dismissal

New and updated

• Type:

  FAQs

  Is it possible to dismiss an employee who takes action to obtain or prevent union recognition?

• Date:

  15 April 2001

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Misconduct: Band of reasonable responses test applicable to procedure as well as outcome

  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.

• Date:

  1 January 2001

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Macfarlane and another v Glasgow City Council

  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.

• Date:

  31 December 2000

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Baker v Securicor Omega Express Ltd

  In Baker v Securicor Omega Express Ltd [2000] IRLB 633 EAT, the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that the employer had been in breach of contact in imposing a change from weekly to monthly pay, and the employee had been constructively dismissed. However, the dismissal was fair for some other substantial reason.

• Date:

  1 November 2000

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Unfair dismissal: Tribunals should continue to apply band of reasonable responses and Burchell tests

  Both the "band or range of reasonable responses" approach to the issue of the reasonableness or unreasonableness of a dismissal and the tripartite "Burchell test" remain binding on the Court of Appeal, as well as on employment tribunals and the EAT, holds the Court of Appeal in Post Office v Foley and HSBC Bank plc (formerly Midland Bank plc) v Madden.

• Date:

  15 April 2000

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  References: Previously undisclosed complaints in reference gave rise to constructive dismissal

  Providing an employee's prospective employer with a reference that revealed several complaints made about the employee, of which she had been unaware, constituted a breach by her employer of the implied term of trust and confidence in her contract of employment, holds the EAT in TSB Bank plc v Harris.

• Date:

  1 April 2000

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Misconduct: Range of reasonable responses test is not wrong

  In Midland Bank plc v Madden, the EAT holds that, while no court short of the Court of Appeal can discard the range or band of reasonable responses test as a determinative test, a tribunal is free to substitute its own views for those of the employer as to the reasonableness of dismissal as a response to the reason shown for it.

• Date:

  1 January 2000

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Transfer of undertakings: Dismissal by reason of transfer precludes finding of "ETO" reason

  The principal reason for the dismissal of a transferor's employees, purportedly on the grounds of redundancy, was the impending transfer of the undertaking, holds the EAT in Kerry Foods Ltd v Creber and others.

• Date:

  1 December 1999

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Harvest Press Ltd v McCaffrey

  In Harvest Press Ltd v McCaffrey [1999] IRLR 778 EAT, the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that if an employee is dismissed after walking out of work because of bullying or harassment by a colleague, he or she may be protected by the health and safety provisions of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and therefore regarded as automatically unfairly dismissed.

• Date:

  1 August 1999

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Redundancy: Definition of redundancy entails factual inquiry

  In Murray and another v Foyle Meats Ltd, the House of Lords holds that the language of the statutory definition of redundancy asks two questions of fact. The first is whether or not one or other of various states of economic affairs exists, and the second is whether or not the dismissal is attributable, wholly or mainly, to that state of affairs.