The dismissal conundrum >>
The rules on “without prejudice” privilege >>
Maternity absentee returning to the “same job” >>
Three very different areas of employment law are worthy of mention this month. The first is a very old conundrum on the meaning of “dismissal”. The second is the application in employment law of the rules on “without prejudice” privilege. The third is the meaning of a maternity absentee returning to the “same job”, on which curiously we have never before had a decision at appellate level.
When is it a dismissal?
The question of how an employment terminated—dismissal or resignation?—was subject to much discussion in early case law during the Cretaceous Period of employment law. Did he jump or was he pushed? On a mundane level, this can arise where all that happens is that the parties swear mightily at each other and part; in such a case, the test, in legal language, is who was the f-offor and who was the f-offee. There is, however, an inherently more difficult version where the employee (with a little more industrial clout) negotiates their exit,
