Sacked or not sacked?
An employee and her employers discussed the possibility of her moving onto a self-employed basis. They left it as something to be considered further. Then she received a letter stating that her employment would be terminated 9 days later, with immediate re-engagement on a self-employed basis. She claimed unfair dismissal.
The company tried to take back the notice. The directors claimed that they had believed the employee had agreed to this – that this was what she wanted. If she didn’t, no problem – just tear up the letter and carry on as before.
For whatever reason, she did not accept this. Now that she had received the letter, she would rather take the money – compensation for what was clearly an unfair dismissal under the law – and run. The Court of Appeal agreed that this was her right. The letter was an unequivocal notice of termination, and the misunderstanding was not enough to amount to a special circumstance that would invalidate it.