Working Time – Shop Worker’s Automatic Unfair Dismissal Claim Upheld

If you have been sacked for asserting your statutory rights, an employment lawyer will see to it that you are justly compensated. The point was powerfully made by the case of a retail sales assistant who complained that, by instructing her to work on 14 consecutive days, her employer was…

Sep 07, 2021

The woman was very upset when her employer asked her to work continuously for a fortnight whilst her manager was on holiday. No satisfactory solution was found and the employer refused to engage temporary staff to provide cover. She worked the hours, as instructed, and was given notice of termination of her employment two days after the manager returned from leave.

After she launched proceedings, an Employment Tribunal (ET) found that, prior to her manager going on holiday, she had made a valid assertion that the employer’s instruction that she work 14 days on the trot breached her rights under Regulation 11 of the Working Time Regulations 1998.

However, the ET dismissed her claim that she had been automatically unfairly dismissed for asserting a statutory right, contrary to Section 104 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. It did so on the basis that, when she made the assertion, the alleged breach of her rights was only anticipated or threatened.

Upholding her challenge to that outcome, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) found that, in order for her claim to succeed, it was not necessary for her to have worked the instructed hours prior to making the assertion. It was the employer’s instruction itself that was alleged to have infringed her rights and her assertion thus fell within the ambit of Section 104.

She had made the assertion in good faith and it did not matter whether it was well-founded. The ET had made a clear finding that her complaint about her working hours was the principal reason for her dismissal. In the circumstances, the EAT substituted a finding that her dismissal was automatically unfair. The amount of her compensation would be assessed at a further hearing, if not agreed.

Victim of Anti-English Workplace Abuse Receives Substantial Damages

A certain amount of workplace banter may be tolerated, but every sensible employer is aware that it may be the thin end of a wedge leading to unlawful discrimination. In a case on point, an English lorry driver who suffered wounding verbal abuse after taking a job north of the border was awarded substantial compensation. The man’s line manager did not like him and referred to him in demeaning and foul-mouthed terms by reference to his nationality. During a football tournament, he was informed…

Employment Tribunal Orders Unfairly Dismissed Railwayman’s Reinstatement

A finding of unfair dismissal will, in the vast majority of cases, straightforwardly result in an award of compensation. As one case showed, however, money is not always enough to make up for the destruction of a career and, in such cases, Employment Tribunals (ETs) also have the power to order reinstatement. The case concerned a veteran railwayman who joined a rail infrastructure company as an apprentice and worked his way up to the position of team leader. Given the risks involved in such…

Can Exhaustion from Overwork Be a Disability? Guideline ET Ruling

Many people have highly demanding jobs that leave them feeling worn out – but can such work-related exhaustion amount to a disability? An Employment Tribunal (ET) addressed that issue in the case of an NHS consultant whose workload and other commitments were, by any standards, punishing. On some days, the consultant worked up to 12-13 hours. His commute to work on two days a week took between two and a half and three hours, one way. He had heavy caring responsibilities for his wife, who had…