Employees have a statutory right to be accompanied to a disciplinary or grievance hearing by their chosen companion and, if that companion is unavailable on the date set, to have the hearing postponed by 5 working days. A failure to comply with this right is likely to render a dismissal procedurally unfair in most cases, … Read more

The Court of Appeal in Patel v Folkestone Nursing Home Ltd has confirmed that where an employee’s internal appeal against dismissal is successful, the effect will be to reinstate the employee with retrospective effect. The earlier dismissal will ‘vanish’ without any need for the employee to ‘accept’ this, preventing the employee from claiming unfair dismissal … Read more

The EAT has confirmed for the first time that an employee dismissed for gross misconduct in the week prior to accruing two years’ service will not gain unfair dismissal protection provided that the tribunal agrees that they have indeed committed gross misconduct. However, if the tribunal disagrees, the statutory minimum notice period will be added … Read more

The Court of Appeal has ruled that the protection against unfair dismissal for taking part in trade union activities should be interpreted broadly and will not necessarily fall away where the activity involves misconduct. In Morris v Metrolink a trade union representative unlawfully retained confidential information that had been obtained without consent and sent to … Read more

The case of Afzal v East London Pizza Ltd t/a Dominos Pizza highlights the importance of offering a right of appeal against dismissal. In that case the employer was justified in urgently dismissing an employee for failure to provide evidence of his continued entitlement to work in the UK on the basis that it genuinely … Read more

Employers should note that, even where an employee seems to have ‘moved on’ from complaints that a series of acts by the employer cumulatively amounted to a breach of trust and confidence, a further act could revive the employee’s right to resign and claim constructive dismissal. Read more

A recent decision of the Industrial Court of Malaysia has confirmed the position that in a claim for unfair dismissal, the primary remedy is reinstatement. If an employee does not seek reinstatement, the court has no further jurisdiction over the matter. Read more

The Supreme Court has ruled that, in the absence of an express contractual provision to the contrary, notice of dismissal by post starts to run when the letter comes to the attention of the employee and they have either read it or had a reasonable opportunity of doing so. Employers should ensure that the employment … Read more