header-logo header-logo

Giving notice: why delivery matters

18 May 2018 / Charles Pigott
Issue: 7793 / Categories: Features , Employment
printer mail-detail
nlj_7793_pigott_0

Can a notice period start even when the employee has not read their dismissal letter? Charles Pigott investigates

  • The Supreme Court has decided that a contractual notice period did not start to run until the employee had read the dismissal letter.
  • It declined to imply a term that notice should run from the date the letter arrived in the post.

In Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust v Haywood [2018] SC 22, [2018] All ER (D) 110 (Apr) the Supreme Court has finally settled the question of how to calculate the date from which a written notice of dismissal starts to run, in the absence of an express term in the contract of employment.

Why the date of dismissal mattered

Ms Haywood worked for an NHS Trust. Her post was in the process of being made redundant and she was approaching her 50th birthday. She was entitled to 12 weeks’ notice and there was no express term in her contract of employment stipulating how notices were to be given.

By

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Rylatt and Robyn Laye of Anthony Gold Solicitors examine recent international relocation cases where allegations of domestic abuse shaped outcomes
back-to-top-scroll