Lees v Arthur Greaves (Lees) Limited: CA 1974

The employee was dismissed in October but given six months notice. It was agreed that he should work out that notice until March. However, on 28 January 1972 the employee was persuaded to finish, accepting two months pay in lieu of working during February or March. He received his holiday pay, insurance cards and P45 on 28 February and he signed on at the employment exchange sometime after 31 March. He claimed unfair dismissal. The employer argued that if the effective date of any termination was 28 January. Section 23(2) referred to the effective date of termination refered to ‘the date on which that notice expires’ while the present legislation refers to ‘the date on which the notice expires’.
Held: The agreement simply waived the duty to work and the contract remained in force until 31 March 1972. Lord Denning said of the employee ‘he was still employed but not required to work for the remaining period from 28th January to 31st March’
. Stamp LJ dissented holding that the contract was effectively terminated on 28 January 1972.

Judges:

Lord Denning MR and Scarman LJ, Stamp LJ

Citations:

[1974] 2 All ER 393, [1974] ICR 501, [1974] 3 IRLR 93

Statutes:

Industrial Relations Act 1971 23(2)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

CitedWedgewood v Minstergate Hull Ltd EAT 13-Jul-2010
EAT JURISDICTIONAL POINTS – Worker, employee or neither
The Claimant employee was given notice that his contract would expire on 1 December 2008.
By a letter dated 26 November 2008 the Respondent . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Employment

Updated: 15 May 2022; Ref: scu.420796