Employment law brief: 10 June 2020

• Wrongful or unfair?
• Status of the proverbial last straw.
• Re-engagement not an ‘order’.
• TUPE-related changes void, even if to the employee’s advantage.
• When does a new employee start work?

Unlike some recent Briefs which have covered cases concerning broad issues of principle or policy (eg the recent Supreme Court cases reassessing vicarious liability), this month’s Brief looks at five cases concerning short, precise but important aspects of both common law and statutory law in the employment context, namely the difference between wrongful and unfair dismissal, ‘last straw’ constructive dismissal, the limitations of an ‘order’ for re-engagement, TUPE-related changes to employment contracts and the start date for new employment.

Wrongful or unfair?

East Coast Main Line Co Ltd v Cameron UKEAT/0212/19 is a good case example of the difference between wrongful dismissal and unfair dismissal and the importance of keeping them separate for most purposes. The claimant was summarily