WRONGFUL TERMINATION – VIOLATION OF RIGHT AND BREACH OF CONTRACT

AUTHOR – SINDHU SATHISH NADIG, STUDENT AT ALLIANCE SCHOOL OF LAW, ALLIANCE UNIVERSITY, BANGALORE

BEST CITATION – SINDHU SATHISH NADIG, WRONGFUL TERMINATION – VIOLATION OF RIGHT AND BREACH OF CONTRACT, ILE WEEKLY REVIEW (ILE WR), 1 (3) OF 2023, PG. 19-26, APIS – 3920 – 0037 | ISBN – 978-81-964391-3-2.

ABSTRACT

The historical development of wrongful termination in English law is based on a group of ideas encompassing a limited contractual notion of wrongfulness and limited remedies. The chapter traces the persistence of this nexus in constraining the judicial development of wrongful dismissal throughout the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. It examines the legal consequences where an employer can terminate the contract of employment (lawfully or unlawfully). It considers the ‘elective’ theory of termination, along with statutory intervention in the form of minimum periods of notice set out in the section 86 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 of the United Kingdom labour law. In 1971, the Industrial Relations Act created the right for many employees to not be unfairly dismissed, and though the act was repealed, the relevant provisions were substantially re-enacted in the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1974. The Industrial Disputes Act of India 1947 mandates a thirty-to-ninety-day notice period when terminating “workmen” *. According to the Indian labor laws, an employee ** may be terminated according to the rules laid out in the individual labour contract signed between the employer and the employee. Equally, the terms may be subject to the country’s labor laws. The aim of the paper is to analyze whether being terminated without a sufficient reason always leads to wrongful termination, how does the employee know if the termination was legal or illegal, keeping in mind the constitution and labor laws of India and the United Kingdom.

*Workmen: A term used in the Industrial Disputes Act 1947, which defines those employees whose primary role is not administrative, managerial or supervisory.
**Employee: A term that covers all types of employees in any kind of role.

Key Words: Wrongful termination, Elective theory of termination, English law, Indian law.