Unfair dismissal: Strange cases in 2024
You might have heard the expression “the law is an ass”, sometimes used when the letter of the law seems to be contrary to common sense.
Note that ‘ass’ is the English colloquial name for a donkey, because donkeys are notoriously stubborn. Not the American definition!
According to PhraseFinder, the expression has been around for hundreds of years. For example, it’s quoted in the 1654 play attributed to George Chapman, Revenge for Honour:
Ere he shall lose an eye for such a trifle… For doing deeds of nature! I’m ashamed. The law is such an ass.
More famously, it’s in Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, published in 1838. When Mr Bumble is told in court that “…the law supposes that your wife acts under your direction”, he replies:
“If the law supposes that,” said Mr. Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, “the law is a ass – a idiot”.
Sometimes, the way employers treat their staff is extraordinary too. And some employees make unusual claims. Here are a few of the odder cases presented at the employment tribunal last year…
Strange case 1: Not being paid
A woman worked at least 40 hours per week at a Premier convenience store in Wales which had been owned by her parents-in-law since 2002. Although she kept asking, her ’employer’ didn’t allow her to take time off, failed to keep records of her working hours, and refused to pay her a wage.
In 2022, they eventually agreed to pay £250 cash per week, which works out at just £6.25 an hour – below minimum wage. What’s more, they paid her in cash, without any pay slips or record of the payments – and she still had to ask for the wages.
When they stopped paying a few months later, she resigned.
She won her claim of unfair dismissal because she had the right to request payment of the national minimum wage.
Strange case 2: Non-existent policy
A former ‘genius’ at an Apple Store in London ‘joked’ with a Chinese colleague about “you lot releasing another deadly disease on the world” (a reference to the Covid pandemic).
An Apple Store leader told him there was “zero tolerance” for behaviour like this in Apple, and dismissed him.
The employee won his claim for unfair dismissal because he knew the colleague wouldn’t be offended as racial stereotypes were often joked about within the team.
The employment tribunal found that the zero-tolerance policy didn’t exist, so it was unreasonable for Apple to dismiss him on that basis.
Strange case 3: Leaving work early
Mr Barbrook was a further education lecturer at New City College in Hornchurch, East London, and was dismissed because he brought lessons forward in order to leave work early.
He made a claim of unfair dismissal, because the decision to dismiss was outside the range of reasonable responses.
The lecturer was awarded £53,400 in compensation because his employer didn’t follow a fair disciplinary procedure. They should have given him a warning or training on the proper practice to follow.
What this means to you
If you have a dispute with your employer, you need an employment lawyer to help make sense of the law.
Tell us the circumstances of your case – no matter how unusual – and we’ll advise you of your chances of winning, tell you what to do next, and support you all the way.
Despite the quote in the introduction to this article, the law isn’t intended to be ‘stupid’, and is constantly changing to keep it up-to-date…
Changes on the way
The Employment Rights Bill (ERB) 2024-25 received its second reading in the House of Commons in October 2024. It then went through a series of 21 public bill committee sittings during November and January.
The Bill proposes reforms to many areas of employment law. These are just a few:
- Unfair dismissal
- Flexible working
- Statutory sick pay
- Family leave
- Protections against harassment
The committee discussions include:
- Increasing the time limits to make a claim to an employment tribunal (for almost all claims), from three months to six months
- Removing the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims
- Whether smaller employers should be exempted from some of the provisions
- How strict the restrictions should be on zero-hours contracts, and whether zero-hour contract protections should be extended to cover agency workers
- How much flexibility to give struggling employers when they want to dismiss workers who refuse to agree to a contract variation
- What the percentage replacement rate should be for people earning below the current rate of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)
Most of the bill applies to England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland as employment law is different here.
The ERB is expected to be passed into law no sooner than summer 2025, although many of the reforms will probably not take effect until 2026.
How we can help
We are employment lawyers with offices in Northern Ireland, Newcastle upon Tyne, and Leeds. We keep up with the law so you don’t have to.
Here are some stories of clients we’ve helped when they were wrongly dismissed from their jobs:
Related reading
We’ve written articles on similar topics before. You might like to read:
- When does banter go too far?
- Can I be dismissed for name-calling?
- Age discrimination: I’ve been called rude names
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