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Unfair dismissal

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  • Date:
    1 January 1995
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Unfair dismissal remedies: EAT addresses limits of "Polkey" reductions

    In a number of recent cases, the EAT has considered the approach industrial tribunals should take when considering reducing unfair dismissal compensation on the grounds that the unfairness was due only to "procedural" failures.

  • Date:
    1 December 1994
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Duffy v Yeomans & Partners Ltd

    In Duffy v Yeomans & Partners Ltd [1994] IRLR 642 CA, the Court of Appeal held that the Industrial Tribunal had not erred in holding that the employers' failure to consult the appellant employee before dismissing him on grounds of redundancy did not render the dismissal unfair in circumstances in which, on the facts known to the employers at the time the employee was dismissed, consultation would have served no useful purpose, even though the employers had not made a deliberate decision not to consult.

  • Date:
    1 December 1994
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    US citizen's dismissal discriminatory

    Rejecting a s. 41 defence, a Bury St Edmunds industrial tribunal (Chair: J Barnes) in York v Olan Mills Incorporated rules that the dismissal of a US citizen working for a US company in the UK when she refused to relocate back to the USA was unlawful race discrimination. Finding that the employee was also unfairly dismissed, the tribunal awarded compensation totalling almost £22,000.

  • Date:
    1 December 1994
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    No hours bar on unfair dismissal claims

    In Clifford v Devon County Council the EAT has ruled that public sector employees are eligible to bring an unfair dismissal complaint, by using EC law, even though they work less than eight hours per week.

  • Date:
    1 November 1994
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Reasonableness: Employer need not actively consider consultation

    In Polkey v AE Dayton Services Ltd, the House of Lords ruled that a redundancy dismissal will usually be unfair if the employee was not warned or consulted prior to dismissal. But the Lords said there may be exceptions to this rule where the employer, at the time of dismissal, could reasonably take the view that consultation or warnings would be useless.

  • Date:
    1 October 1994
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Dismissal: Imposition of new shift patterns was constructive dismissal

    In Interconnection Systems Ltd v Gibson, an employee was unfairly constructively dismissed when her employer imposed new shift patterns, and refused to accept that the domestic difficulties created by this change were a ground for considering transferring her to alternative work.

  • Date:
    1 October 1994
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Sickness rules: Dismissal for evening training on sick day was unfair

    In Inco Alloys Ltd v Kelly the EAT upholds an industrial tribunal's decision that the dismissal of an employee, because he twice attended evening Territorial Army training sessions having been off work the same day because of sickness or injury, was unfair.

  • Date:
    1 October 1994
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Reasonableness: Dismissal for loss of licence was fair

    An employee was fairly dismissed when he lost his driving licence, holds the EAT in John Liddington Ltd v Blackett, given that his job involved substantial travelling and the employer had concluded, after careful consideration of alternative arrangements, that the job could not be done properly without a car.

  • Date:
    1 August 1994
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Misconduct dismissals: Unauthorised "favour" was a breach of trust

    An industrial tribunal's decision that a painter was unfairly dismissed for using company materials to paint guttering at a house not included in the works contract was flawed, holds the Court of Session in McGuire v Brawley Brothers Ltd.

  • Date:
    1 July 1994
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Dismissal: Threat of termination was constructive dismissal

    An employee who resigned when her employer threatened to terminate her contract with due notice if she refused to agree to a change in her shift pattern was constructively dismissed, rules the EAT in Greenaway Harrison Ltd v Wiles.

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HR and legal information and guidance relating to unfair dismissal.