Wrongful dismissal
If you have been dismissed by your employer and they have breached your contract then you may have a claim for wrongful dismissal.
Wrongful dismissal is a contractual claim. This arises where an employee has been dismissed and the employer has failed to fulfil his contractual obligations to the employee. For example, the employer has failed to give the employee his notice.
If you have committed an act of gross misconduct and your employer has terminated for that reason, then you would not be entitled to receive notice or payment in lieu of notice.
In any other circumstances, in order to terminate your employment, your right to notice means your employer must either allow you to work out your notice or make a payment in lieu of notice.
If you have been wrongfully dismissed, you are under a duty to mitigate your loss. This means that where you have a long notice period, say, three months or more, your employer will often seek to reduce the sum payable on the basis that you are likely to obtain alternative employment within that period. In assessing what your losses are, you would have to offset any earnings you receive during that period and any earnings you ought to have received, had you made reasonable attempts to find alternative employment.
Often an employer will reserve a right to make a payment in lieu of notice on termination. This means that there is a contractual term allowing the payment to be made. If the term is operated the notice payment is taxable, but no account would be taken of any mitigation. This also means that the contract of employment is terminated lawfully so that all post termination restrictions contained within the contract remain in place, including any restrictive covenants or post termination confidentiality restrictions.
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