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Employment law

Termination without notice by the employee

This occurs where the employee repudiates the contract by leaving. This would be a
breach of contract by the employee unless the employer has wrongfully repudiated
the contract and the employee ‘accepts’ the breach by leaving (the common law
equivalent of constructive dismissal).

Expiry of a fixed term contract or for a specific task

If a fixed term contract expires without notice at the end of the term there is no
breach by either party. The contract has simply been performed.

If an employee is employed under a fixed term contract and is dismissed before the
expiry of that term they may claim wrongful dismissal.

If an employee is employed to perform a specific task and is dismissed before the
completion of the task he may claim for wrongful dismissal.

Remedies for wrongful dismissal

As wrongful dismissal focuses on a breach of the contract of employment, the normal
remedy will be damages. The quantum of damages is normally based on the loss of
earnings suffered as a result of the dismissal.

An employee is under a duty to mitigate the loss. Therefore, alternative work must be
sought in the intervening period.

If damages are deemed not to be an adequate remedy, the court may award an
injunction to prevent the breach of contract. However, this only happens in extremely
rare cases.

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