Employment Law – Study Guide, Practice Questions & Legal Course Review 2026
Summary Dismissal - ANS ✔✔Immediate dismissal of an employee without notice
Authority for summary dismissal - ANS ✔✔Sinclair v Neighbor (1967)
- An employee was taking money from the till and leaving an I.O.U. The employer warned the
employee to stop but the employee continued. The employer instantly dismissed the employee
due to their gross misconduct
Dunn v Aah Ltd [2010] - ANS ✔✔A subsidiary company had been entitled to summarily dismiss
an employee who had failed to comply with explicit formal instructions from its parent company
to report all risks that could be a potential threat to the company's profit situation
Gross misconduct - ANS ✔✔Theft, fraud, dishonesty, abuse, harassment, violence, serious
breach of health and safety
Pepper v Webb [1967] - ANS ✔✔An accumulation of petty incidents may also amount to a
serious breach
What can you claim if summary dismissal is not justified? - ANS ✔✔Can claim damages for
wrongful dismissal and common law action for breach of contract
Causes of wrongful dismissal - ANS ✔✔1. Breach of a notice term, whether express or implied -
dismissal without notice or with inadequate notice in circumstances where proper notice should
have been given or where a dismissal has been in breach of agreed procedures
2. Breach of a contractual disciplinary or redundancy procedure
3. Termination of a fixed-term contract before its expiry
,True or False? A dismissal that is wrongful is necessarily unfair - ANS ✔✔False - A dismissal can
be wrongful without being unfair
What can be claimed for wrongful dismissal? - ANS ✔✔Damages
Pursuant to British Transport Commission v Gorley [1955], what is the purpose of damages? -
ANS ✔✔The employee is to be placed in the same position as if the contract had been
performed properly
Malik v BCCI [1997] - FACTS AND FINDINGS - ANS ✔✔Facts: Malik worked for the BCCI which
went insolvent due to massive fraud and other criminal activities. Malik lost his job and sought
employment elsewhere but could not find jobs. Malik sued BCCI alleging that their failure to
secure new jobs was due to reputational damage and that there was an implied term in the
contract that nothing would be done to undermine mutual trust and confidence
Findings: It was held that there had been a breach of mutual trust and confidence and that
Malik was entitled to stigma damages
What were the findings in Johnson and Unisys [2001]? - ANS ✔✔It was held that damages were
not available for mental breakdown and consequent loss of earnings alleged to have been
caused by the manner of dismissal
How does Eastwood v Magnox Electric plc [2004] relate to Johnson v Unisys [2001]? - ANS ✔✔It
extended the principle in Johnson v Unisys [2001] to cover the whole course of events leading
up to the dismissal, and not just the dismissal itself
True or false? Where damages are inadequate, a party may be granted equitable remedies -
ANS ✔✔True - injunctions to restrain a dismissal, for example (Irani v Southampton and South
West Hampshire Health Authority [1985])
, When is the date of termination for wrongful dismissal claims? And which case is authority? -
ANS ✔✔According to Geys v Societe Generale, London Branch [2012], the date of termination
was when the employee had accepted the repudiation
Which section of the Employment Rights Act 1996 governs constructive dismissal? - ANS ✔✔s
95(1)(c)
How is an employee defined by the ERA 1996? - ANS ✔✔"An individual who has entered into or
works under (or, where the employment has ceased, worked under) a contract of employment"
True or false? A constructive dismissal can be an unfair dismissal and a wrongful dismissal - ANS
✔✔True
True or false? The employee's resignation can be an acceptance of the employer's repudiation
of the contract - ANS ✔✔True
What test was formulated in the Western Excavating Ltd v Sharp [1978]? - ANS ✔✔The Contract
Test - "An employee is entitled to treat himself as constructively dismissed if the employer is
guilty of conduct which is a significant breach going to the root of the contract of employment,
or which shows that the employer no longer intends to be bound by one or more of the
essential terms of the contract" (Lord Denning)
What is Woods v WM Car Services (Peterborough) Ltd [1981] authority for? - ANS
✔✔Employers will not, without reasonable and proper cause, conduct themselves in a manner
calculated or likely to destroy or seriously damage the relationship of confidence and trust
between employer and employee
True or false? When courts determine whether the conduct was sufficient to be considered
repudiatory, they take into account the feelings and thoughts of the employee such that it
amounts to a subjective test - ANS ✔✔False - the test is objective. Could the employers conduct
so impacted on the employee, when viewed objectively, be concluded that the employer was
repudiating the contract?
Summary Dismissal - ANS ✔✔Immediate dismissal of an employee without notice
Authority for summary dismissal - ANS ✔✔Sinclair v Neighbor (1967)
- An employee was taking money from the till and leaving an I.O.U. The employer warned the
employee to stop but the employee continued. The employer instantly dismissed the employee
due to their gross misconduct
Dunn v Aah Ltd [2010] - ANS ✔✔A subsidiary company had been entitled to summarily dismiss
an employee who had failed to comply with explicit formal instructions from its parent company
to report all risks that could be a potential threat to the company's profit situation
Gross misconduct - ANS ✔✔Theft, fraud, dishonesty, abuse, harassment, violence, serious
breach of health and safety
Pepper v Webb [1967] - ANS ✔✔An accumulation of petty incidents may also amount to a
serious breach
What can you claim if summary dismissal is not justified? - ANS ✔✔Can claim damages for
wrongful dismissal and common law action for breach of contract
Causes of wrongful dismissal - ANS ✔✔1. Breach of a notice term, whether express or implied -
dismissal without notice or with inadequate notice in circumstances where proper notice should
have been given or where a dismissal has been in breach of agreed procedures
2. Breach of a contractual disciplinary or redundancy procedure
3. Termination of a fixed-term contract before its expiry
,True or False? A dismissal that is wrongful is necessarily unfair - ANS ✔✔False - A dismissal can
be wrongful without being unfair
What can be claimed for wrongful dismissal? - ANS ✔✔Damages
Pursuant to British Transport Commission v Gorley [1955], what is the purpose of damages? -
ANS ✔✔The employee is to be placed in the same position as if the contract had been
performed properly
Malik v BCCI [1997] - FACTS AND FINDINGS - ANS ✔✔Facts: Malik worked for the BCCI which
went insolvent due to massive fraud and other criminal activities. Malik lost his job and sought
employment elsewhere but could not find jobs. Malik sued BCCI alleging that their failure to
secure new jobs was due to reputational damage and that there was an implied term in the
contract that nothing would be done to undermine mutual trust and confidence
Findings: It was held that there had been a breach of mutual trust and confidence and that
Malik was entitled to stigma damages
What were the findings in Johnson and Unisys [2001]? - ANS ✔✔It was held that damages were
not available for mental breakdown and consequent loss of earnings alleged to have been
caused by the manner of dismissal
How does Eastwood v Magnox Electric plc [2004] relate to Johnson v Unisys [2001]? - ANS ✔✔It
extended the principle in Johnson v Unisys [2001] to cover the whole course of events leading
up to the dismissal, and not just the dismissal itself
True or false? Where damages are inadequate, a party may be granted equitable remedies -
ANS ✔✔True - injunctions to restrain a dismissal, for example (Irani v Southampton and South
West Hampshire Health Authority [1985])
, When is the date of termination for wrongful dismissal claims? And which case is authority? -
ANS ✔✔According to Geys v Societe Generale, London Branch [2012], the date of termination
was when the employee had accepted the repudiation
Which section of the Employment Rights Act 1996 governs constructive dismissal? - ANS ✔✔s
95(1)(c)
How is an employee defined by the ERA 1996? - ANS ✔✔"An individual who has entered into or
works under (or, where the employment has ceased, worked under) a contract of employment"
True or false? A constructive dismissal can be an unfair dismissal and a wrongful dismissal - ANS
✔✔True
True or false? The employee's resignation can be an acceptance of the employer's repudiation
of the contract - ANS ✔✔True
What test was formulated in the Western Excavating Ltd v Sharp [1978]? - ANS ✔✔The Contract
Test - "An employee is entitled to treat himself as constructively dismissed if the employer is
guilty of conduct which is a significant breach going to the root of the contract of employment,
or which shows that the employer no longer intends to be bound by one or more of the
essential terms of the contract" (Lord Denning)
What is Woods v WM Car Services (Peterborough) Ltd [1981] authority for? - ANS
✔✔Employers will not, without reasonable and proper cause, conduct themselves in a manner
calculated or likely to destroy or seriously damage the relationship of confidence and trust
between employer and employee
True or false? When courts determine whether the conduct was sufficient to be considered
repudiatory, they take into account the feelings and thoughts of the employee such that it
amounts to a subjective test - ANS ✔✔False - the test is objective. Could the employers conduct
so impacted on the employee, when viewed objectively, be concluded that the employer was
repudiating the contract?
