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Employment law brief: 11 March 2011

11 March 2011 / Ian Smith
Issue: 7456 / Categories: Features
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Ian Smith reports on an unusual misconduct dismissal, Tupeland & product placement

As well as a blatant piece of product placement (legal as from last month, see box on p 343), this column concentrates on only two of the considerable number of employment cases reported recently, both of which raised fundamental issues which need the space. 

  • The first concerned an unusual point on misconduct dismissals—if you have to look at what the employer actually knew as at the date of dismissal, what does a corporate or institutional employer “know”?
  • The second addresses a potentially vital issue on TUPE (itself under attack last month politically for “gold plating” the backing directive) as to how it interacts with insolvency laws and provisions.

What does a corporate employer “know”?

The well known rule in Devis & Sons Ltd v Atkins [1977] AC 931, HL normally operates to provide that an employer cannot justify a dismissal as fair on after-acquired evidence. Another way of putting this is that fairness requires evaluation of the employer’s decision

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Birketts—trainee cohort

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Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

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Brabners—Ben Lamb

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Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

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