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Representation:
Elizabeth Slade QC and Paul Nicholls for the employers.
Laura Cox QC and Tess Gill for the applicant employees.
CAUTION - much of this case was decided under law which has now been repealed (see Maternity/maternity leave ). Relevance of this note is therefore now limited.
Authority for the propositions that:-
- a dismissal made because of a mistake of law is not necessarily unfair dismissal.
- under pre-1999 law an employee who opted to pursue her statutory right to return to work after maternity leave could not also enforce any contractual right to return so that refusal of the employer to allow her to return could not give her a claim for damages for breach of contract.
- under pre-1999 law a woman's contractual rights were in abeyance during maternity leave until she returned to work in exercise of her statutory rights. Therefore she was not an employee until that return and therefore could not claim compensation for sex discrimination under Sex Discrimination Act 1975 s.6(2)(b) which provides that it is "unlawful for a person, in the case of a woman employed by him at an establishment in Great Britain, to discriminate against her .....".
See Maternity/maternity leave/illness delaying return to work for main general notes
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updated Jan2001.