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18 September 2008 / Ian Smith
Issue: 7337 / Categories: Features , Employment
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An antidote to summer

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Ian Smith dissects the latest cases on dismissal law and TUPE transfers

Four cases in the last month are considered here, as an antidote for the wettest August on record (for anyone sad enough to find them a consolation).
Constructive dismissal and bad handling of grievances

Last year the decision of Lady Smith in Abbey National v Fairbrother [2007] IRLR 320, EAT, All ER (D) 24 (Jan) caused some surprise with its holding that the range of reasonable responses test should be applied to the question whether there had been a constructive dismissal, not just to the question whether (if so) it was fair. The matter arose in the context of a dispute over the handling of a grievance and had the effect that the employee would only succeed in establishing constructive dismissal if he could show that the employer had conducted the grievance in a way that no reasonable employer would have done. This is a significant tightening up of the test.

Claridge v Daler Rowney Ltd [2008] IRLR 320, EAT also concerned

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