Robert Court and Son Ltd v Charman: EAT 1981

The EAT considered the effect of the statutory period of notice: ‘As a result, in our view Mr Charman has no right to complain to the Industrial Tribunal of unfair dismissal. Even if, as one must, one treats the effective date of termination as being 3 October (the combined effect of s 49 and s 55 [of the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978] requiring one to add the seven days after 26th September) he had not the necessary 52 weeks’ employment. However, he may have another remedy. The dismissal without notice seems to us to be a clear breach of contract. The measure for such breach may not be limited to one month’s loss of wages but may also include the loss of the right to compensation for unfair dismissal which he would have had if the correct notice had been given. Mr Charman therefore may not be left without remedy by our decision.’

Judges:

Browne-Wilkinson

Citations:

[1981] IRLR 437

Cited by:

CitedStapp v The Shaftesbury Society CA 1982
The employer had told the claimant: ‘I must ask you to relinquish your duties with effect from today 7 February 1981’ and thereby summarily dismissed him.
Held: The employer was clearly summarily dismissing with immediate effect in a wholly . .
CitedSally Harper v Virgin Net Limited CA 10-Mar-2004
The employee had been dismissed. Her contractual notice period was longer than the statutory period.
Held: The statutory notice period prevailed in calculating the date of dismissal. The contractual period could not be used to extend the total . .
CitedRaspin v United Shops Ltd EAT 24-Mar-1999
A breach of contract by an employer failing to follow disciplinary procedure which leaves an employee unable to pursue claim for unfair dismissal, was remediable as a breach of contract by wrongful dismissal and damages accordingly. What must be . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Employment, Damages

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.194625