Chapter 6 Self-test questions

. Which of the following is true about the termination of an employment contract at common law?

A contract automatically terminates when the employer dies.

If the employer dies, the contract is over and the employee has no further rights.

If the employee dies, his or her personal representatives may carry on any pending employment tribunal actions.

Winding up of a company ends the employment contract leaving the employee with no rights.

. Which of the following is not true about frustration?

It is based on the idea that if something happens that was not contemplated by the parties in making the contract; they should not be held to perform the contract when that un-contemplated thing happens.

It has been applied to allow employers to claim frustration, and hence avoid a dismissal, based on a catastrophic illness that was clearly contemplated in the sense that the contract provided for dismissal upon notice.

An employment contract can be frustrated by the imprisonment of the employee.

Frustration is generally defeated by the fact that employment contracts and unfair dismissal law allow employers to dismiss, with notice, where the employee is incapacitated or unable to work.

. Which of the following statements about the termination of employment contracts is false?

The parties may agree a mutual termination whereby the employee agrees that certain conduct, like not coming back from holiday on time, will amount to a mutual termination, and the contract will terminate without a dismissal occurring if the employee commits the specified conduct.

A contract for the completion of a particular project is a fixed-term contract.

The parties may mutually terminate a contract if, for example, the employee seeks to avoid a long notice period preventing her from getting a different job.

The expiration of the term of a fixed-term contract without renewal constitutes a dismissal.

. Which of the following statements is true about dismissal by notice?

At common law a dismissal by notice must be for misconduct, incapacity, or insubordination.

An employer who does not want the dismissed employee around for the notice period can send him or her home so long as 'payment in lieu' of notice is provided.

In the absence of an agreed period of notice, the default common law period is two weeks.

'Payment in lieu' is always treated as wages, taxable as such.

. Which of the following statements about summary dismissal is false?

The employer may dismiss without notice if the employee commits a breach of the employment contract that goes to the essence of the contract.

Small acts of dishonesty can justify summary dismissal where the job involves a substantial degree of trust.

Use by the employee of insubordinate and foul language to the employer provides a clear justification of summary dismissal.

Almost any form of deliberate computer misuse during employment will justify summary dismissal.

. Which of the following is true about the wrongful dismissal action?

It is concerned exclusively with procedural matters such as notice.

It is, in essence, a breach of contract action, whose content depends on the content of the contract.

It is the common law version of the unfair dismissal action.

It cannot provide as much compensation as a statutory unfair dismissal action.

. Which of the following statements about wrongful dismissal damages is false?

A court can award stigma damages for a wrongful dismissal if the way the dismissal happened caused a stigma.

The common law cannot provide damages for the breach of express terms providing for disciplinary procedures where the breach results in dismissal.

The common law cannot compensate for damages caused by the form of the dismissal, because Parliament has acted in the area of wrongful dismissal, and set the applicable limit on liability which the courts will not disturb,

The amount of damages available in wrongful dismissal is not limited to any maximum monetary amount.

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