An issue that has vexed employment lawyers for some time is when does notice of termination of employment take effect. There are a number of possible answers to this question. Assuming the contract of employment is silent on this point, is notice effective when the letter communicating the decision would have been delivered in the ordinary course of post, or is it when as a matter of fact the letter was delivered or is it when the employee actually reads it or when the employee ought reasonably to have read it? This issue was recently considered by the Supreme Court.
When an employer unilaterally varies the contract of employment, an employee has a number of options. The employee can choose to accept the change and move on, in which case the change will alter the terms of the contract. The employee can refuse to accept the change. In the absence of the contractual right to change the terms unilaterally, any attempt to do so is likely to fail. What happens if the employee remains silent? In the law’s typical fashion, the answer is that “it depends”. It depends on the context and what the employee said and did when faced with the changes.
In this case Mr Ali, a father, wished to take shared parental leave so that his wife could go back to work. He argued that it was unlawful direct sex discrimination to pay him less than he would receive if he had been on maternity leave.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has launched a consultation seeking views on how to shape its policy on parental bereavement leave and pay.
