If an employee gives notice to terminate their employment and, during that period of notice, the employer summarily dismisses them (ie without notice), the employee will be considered to have been dismissed by the employer despite the fact that they first gave notice to terminate their contract. For further information, see Practice Note: Definition of dismissal in unfair dismissal—Express dismissal. Issues that then arise include: • whether the employer was entitled to terminate the contract summarily for gross misconduct, and • if the employee is entitled to bring an unfair dismissal claim, whether the dismissal was fair or unfair on ordinary principles An employee who is guilty of gross misconduct can be dismissed summarily and will not be wrongfully dismissed, ie in these circumstances an employer will be entitled to dismiss without giving the normal contractual

For information on protecting confidentiality during employment generally, see Practice Note: Confidential information and trade secrets in employment. For information on dealing with misconduct generally, see Practice Notes: • Managing conduct • Dismissing fairly for conduct reasons • Reason for dismissal—conduct Protection from dismissal Under section 152 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULR(C)A 1992), an employee will be regarded as having been automatically unfairly dismissed if the principal reason for their dismissal is: • that the employee had taken part, or proposed to take part, in the activities of an independent trade union at an appropriate time • that the employee

Employee’s entitlement to pay during the statutory notice period Where notice of termination of employment is given, either by the employer or the employee, and the employee has been continuously employed for one month or more, then the employee has certain entitlements during that notice period (section 87(1), (2) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996)). In broad terms, the employee is entitled to be paid a week’s pay for each week of the statutory notice period, subject to certain qualifications and provisos. The effect of these provisions may mean that where an employee who is otherwise absent from work, eg on long-term

If an employee brings a claim of unfair dismissal, the burden is on the employer to prove that it had a fair reason for dismissal. One of the potentially fair reasons for dismissing an employee is conduct. However, in order to dismiss fairly, employers must also follow a fair procedure. Ultimately, it must be shown that dismissal is a fair sanction to impose. The Acas Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures places obligations on both employees and employers to comply with its provisions or face possible sanctions. It sets out the standard of reasonable behaviour expected in most instances. For further information, see Practice Notes: • Dismissing fairly for conduct reasons • Reason for dismissal—conduct • Reason for dismissal—general, in particular section: Potentially fair reasons • Acas disciplinary and grievance code—procedural requirements According to the

An employee may claim a statutory redundancy payment without having been dismissed in one of two situations: • where the employee is ‘laid-off’ by the employer, ie when the employer temporarily shuts down its operation because it cannot find any or enough work for the employees • where an employee is put on short-time working—short-time working occurs where the employer requires the employee to do less than their full contractual hours and the employee receives less pay as a result The provisions set out in sections 147–154 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) govern the statutory scheme, whereby

The answer to this Q&A is likely to depend on: • whether there are normal working hours or no normal working hours for the employee in question, and • if there are no normal working hours, the employee’s average weekly remuneration for the relevant twelve-week period For information on flexible furlough under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) generally, see Practice Note: Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (extended version 1 July to 31 October 2020) [Archived]. For information on the use of the CJRS grant during the notice period, see Practice

For information on statutory sick pay (SSP) generally, see Practice Note: Sick pay. Under section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA), an employer cannot make any deductions from the wages of a worker unless: • the deduction is required or authorised to be made by virtue of a statutory provision or a relevant provision of the worker’s contract, or • the worker has previously signified in writing their agreement or consent to the deduction (eg in respect of pension contributions) See Practice Note: Deductions from wages—When deductions are lawful. Separately, ERA 1996, s 14 sets out certain ‘excepted deductions’ to which section 13 does not apply. The excepted deductions in ERA 1996, s 14 include where the purpose of the deduction is the reimbursement of the employer in respect of an overpayment of wages, or an overpayment

The government’s guidance for employers: Claim for your employee’s wages through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme states as follows: ‘Employees who qualify for statutory maternity pay (SMP), will still be eligible for 90% of their average weekly earnings in the first six weeks, followed by 33 weeks of pay paid at 90% of their average weekly earnings or the statutory flat rate (whichever is lower). The statutory flat rate is currently £148.68 a week, rising to £151.20 a week from April 2020 If you

For information on the Employment Rights Act 1996 (Coronavirus, Calculation of a Week’s Pay) Regulations 2020 (Week’s Pay Amendment Regs 2020), SI 2020/814 generally, see Practice Note: Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme—right to statutory redundancy and other termination payments [Archived]. The Week’s Pay Amendment Regs 2020, SI 2020/814 set out how a week’s pay is to be calculated in the case of an employee ‘who is, or has been, furloughed’ under the CJRS, for the purpose of calculating certain payments, including the employee’s right to payment under section 88 or 89 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996). The Week’s Pay Amendment Regs 2020, SI 2020/814 only apply:

Calculation of a statutory redundancy payment A statutory redundancy payment is calculated by (sections 162 and 227(1)(c) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996)): • determining the employee's number of complete years of continuous employment ending with the 'relevant date', and • allowing the appropriate number of weeks for each year. This is done by looking at (a) the whole period of employment if overall service is 20 years or less, or (b) the 20 years terminating with the 'relevant date' if the overall service is more than that. Within that period, working backwards from the 'relevant date': ◦ high band: count one and a half weeks for every complete year of service throughout which the employee was aged 41 or over ◦ middle band: count one week for every complete year of service (not including years already accounted for as high band years, if there were any) throughout which

For information: • on maternity leave, see Practice Note: Maternity leave • on maternity pay, see Practice Note: Maternity pay The right to maternity leave is set out in sections 71 to 75 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) and the Maternity and Parental Leave etc Regulations 1999 (MAPLE 1999), SI 1999/3312. Subject to an earlier start being triggered where childbirth occurs, an employee’s ordinary maternity leave (OML) period starts

The period of statutory minimum notice to be given to employees is: • no minimum in the first month of employment • one week after continuous service between one month and two years • one week for each complete year of continuous service for service between two years and twelve years • twelve weeks after 12 or more years' continuous service The parties can agree to waive their rights to statutory minimum notice, or agree to payment in lieu of statutory minimum notice. For further information generally, see our Practice Notes: Statutory minimum notice and Payment in lieu of notice (PILON). Notice pay where the employee works her notice during maternity leave The employee's entitlement to notice pay where she works her notice will depend in large part upon the contractual terms applying in any given case. Where the employee is entitled to statutory minimum period of