It has long been the case that at common law an employee could have her employment terminated for good reason, bad reason, or no reason. Any remedy then open to the employee would be a statutory claim-that is, a claim under unfair dismissal legislation such as the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977.
But once the employer had terminated in accordance with the contract of employment and had given the contractual notice period the employee had no cause of action in the Courts for breach of contract.
Two decisions from the High Court on this point at the end of 2018 appear to be inconsistent, however. Both cases involved the employees seeking an injunction to prevent their dismissal by way of a no fault termination-that is, dismissal for good, bad or no reason.
Obtaining an injunction in employment cases
The normal standard for obtaining an injunction is set out in the principles in the ‘Campus Oil v Minister for Industry and Energy [1983]’ as follows
- That there is a fair or bona fide issue to be tried-in other words the claim must not be frivolous or vexatious;
- If there is a bona fide issue to be tried the Court must then consider whether damages would be an adequate remedy or not. If so the Plaintiff will be required to give an undertaking as to damages, that is, in the event of the injunction being refused the Plaintiff will pay damages to the person injuncted;
- That the balance of convenience favours the granting of the injunction rather than its refusal.
The test for an injunction in an employment case is higher, however, and the applicant must show “that at least he has a strong case and that he is likely to succeed at the hearing of the action” (Supreme Court, Maha Lingham v Health Service Executive).
Two High Court Decisions
In Whooley v Merck Millipore Limited and Merck KGaA [2018] IEHC 725 the company terminated the employee’s employment on ‘no fault’ basis and gave her the contractual notice. The High Court refused her application for an injunction preventing her dismissal as her contract had already been terminated. The Court opined, however, that she may have succeeded in an injunction application prior to the termination of her contract.
In Grenet v Electronic Arts Ireland Limited [2018] IEHC 786 the employee succeeded in the injunction application as the Court accepted the employee’s argument that a later no-fault termination was merely an earlier faulty termination dressed up in different clothes and the earlier termination would have had serious reputational consequences for the employee and would have prevented him from vindicating his good name.
So, two High Court applications seeking an injunction to prevent a dismissal from employment; one successful, the other unsuccessful.
Read the decisions here:
Grenet v Electronic Arts Ireland Limited [2018] IEHC 786
Whooley v Merck Millipore Limited and Merck KGaA [2018] IEHC 725
Learn more about injunctions and contracts of employment here.