In this week’s NLJ, employment barrister Ian Smith investigates a trio of unusual cases, including on the issue of when a court can directly enforce a valid restraint of trade clause against an ex-employee, (and what about their need to earn a living?)
Smith also covers the difference between an ‘employee’ in tax and an ‘employee’ in employment law, and whether an employee dismissed for their fear of coronavirus is protected under health and safety dismissal laws.
This third case is the first reported appellate decision on the issue. Smith writes: ‘There has been much speculation whether an employee dismissed for leaving work or, more particularly, refusing to come back to work, because of fears of contracting coronavirus could claim automatically unfair dismissal under the health and safety provisions of s 100(1)(d)–(e) of the Employment Rights Act 1996.’
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