HR file: Letting them know you’re letting them go

The Supreme Court recently gave important guidance on when contractual notice of dismissal delivered in writing comes into effect. It found that the notice period of an NHS employee who had been issued redundancy by mail while she was on holiday did not begin until she had an opportunity to read the letter, not when it arrived at her home. This long-awaited judgment reiterates why establishing a concrete dismissal date is such a critical aspect of this process and employers should now be reviewing how they can do this effectively.

The case began when Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust served an employee, Sandi Haywood, with redundancy notice in writing. Haywood was overseas at the time and did not physically receive the letter until seven days after it had been sent to her via recorded delivery. The day after the Trust issued it a card was put through her door in her absence. Haywood’s father-in-law then collected the letter on her behalf five days later, but she did not physically read it until the day after when she returned home.