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Automatically unfair dismissal
It is automatically unfair to dismiss an employee for asserting a statutory right such as the right to a rest break under the Working Time Regulations (see Chapter 10: Automatically unfair dismissal). The limits of this protection are illustrated by the following case:
Two carers for vulnerable adults who fell asleep during their shift failed in their claim that they were automatically unfairly dismissed on the basis that by sleeping, they were asserting their statutory right to a break. The EAT held that to succeed, they needed to have implicitly or expressly communicated in advance to their employer their refusal to accept the employer’s breach of the statutory right. Simply taking a rest break in these circumstances was not enough to trigger protection under the legislation. The care home was criticised for failing to provide rest breaks, but the unfair dismissal claims failed.
Ajayi and another v Aitch Care Homes (London) Ltd UKEAT/0464/11
In Hone v Six Continents Retail Ltd ([2006] IRLR 49), the Court of Appeal found that the fact that a worker regularly worked over 48-hours a week was relevant evidence in a work-related stress claim. The resulting personal injury suffered by Mr Hone was reasonably foreseeable and his claim for compensation succeeded.