Overview

Nabarro reports on three recent decisions that highlight the dangers of employers not following their own contractual procedures: Buckland v Bournemouth University Higher Education Corporation; Willoughby v C F Capital plc; and Edwards v Chesterfield NHS Trust.

These cases serve as a reminder that employers must apply their contractual procedures carefully and diligently, especially when handling disciplinaries and dismissals. The decisions make the following key points:

• An employer who commits a repudiatory breach cannot unilaterally remedy it;
• an employer who validly dismisses an employee cannot unilaterally retract the dismissal;
• an employer who dismisses an employee in breach of contractual disciplinary procedures may have to pay the employee damages at large.

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