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NEWS & EVENTS
| The danger of written dismissals 27/08/2009 Thats the advice from employment specialists at city based Roythorne Christmas Solicitors.
The case concerned an employee who was summarily dismissed by letter and subsequently made a claim for unfair dismissal and sex discrimination. She was away when the letter arrived at her home and did not read it until a week after it had arrived at her home. There is a three month time limit for such claims and if the three months started when the letter was delivered her claim would be out of time, but if the three months started from when she read the letter, her claim could be lodged as normal.
The Court of Appeal agreed that the three months must start from when the letter is read, if this is the only method of the dismissal being communicated, and therefore opened the way for the ex-employee to make a Tribunal claim.
Phil Cookson, employment specialist at Roythorne Christmas said
We always advise employers that if they are dismissing employees they do so face to face as there can then be no confusion as to the date of termination of employment. Dismissing by letter only is fraught with danger and potentially very expensive should it mean that a Tribunal claim can be made by an ex-employee. against the employer. |
