In this month’s employment brief, Ian Smith examines the long shadow cast by the infamous ‘gay cake case’ & takes a look at some exceptions to the unfair dismissal rule
Two cases this month have concerned the exception rather than the rule in unfair dismissal law: namely where the dismissal is automatically unfair because it comes into an especially protected category. Not only are these categories important in themselves, they are also (like patriotism for the scoundrel) the last refuge of the claimant without two years’ qualifying employment. The third case considered here shows clearly the effect of the Supreme Court decision in the Lee v Ashers Baking Company Ltd and others [2018] UKSC 49, [2018] All ER (D) 43 (Oct) case. The fourth case raises the sort of question that lawyers just love : what is an email? On that last point, my nine-year-old grandson, when recently overhearing someone
