Ian Smith reports on dangerous maxims, rumours & suspicion
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less”. The first case reported this month shows how dangerous that well known maxim can be for an employer, with apparently little scope for withdrawal of a dismissal that the employer decides was not really intended. This is a modern spin on a longstanding problem in employment relations. Similarly, the second case concerns a longstanding conundrum about dismissal not for proved misconduct but because of rumour and suspicion; the twist here is that it arose in an area of modern concern (child abuse) where, as the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) pointed out sharply, the desire to do “everything to stamp it out” can potentially lead under normal employment law rules to great injustice to those falling under suspicion.
The meaning of words
The question whether language is sufficient to constitute a termination has long proved troublesome. The most obvious problem
