King v The Hundred of Hoo Nursery
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Judgment Date | 21 May 1998 |
| Date | 21 May 1998 |
| Court | Employment Appeal Tribunal |
Employment Appeal Tribunal
Before Mr Justice Morison, Mr A E R Manners and Ms B Switzer
Employment - unfair dismissal - return to work after maternity leave - notice of intention need not be in writing
The information that an employee who was absent on maternity leave intended to return to work required by section 80(1) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, did not have to be in writing.
The structure of the maternity rights provisions was to ensure that an employee who was pregnant, and her employer who would be responsible for paying maternity pay, had sufficient communication with each other so that they might make sensible arrangements for a return to work. Industrial tribunals should arrive at conclusions which gave effect to the purpose of the legislation and which seemed to them just and sensible.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal so held when allowing an appeal from a decision of an Ashford industrial tribunal that the applicant, Miss Sara King, did not have the right to return after childbirth to her former employment with the Hundred of Hoo Nursery, her employers, and that her complaints of unfair dismissal and sex discrimination should be dismissed.
Section 71 of the 1996 Act gave a general right to maternity leave. By section 75(1) an employee did not have that right unless within certain dates she informed her employer of the pregnancy and expected week of childbirth in writing. Section 79 provides for the right to return to work.
Section 80 provides: "(1) An employee does not have the right conferred by section 79 unless she includes with the information required by section 75(1) the information that she intends to exercise that right."
Mr Michel Kallipetis, QC, who did not appear below, for the applicant; the employers did not appear and were not represented.
MR JUSTICE MORISON said that the applicant did not tell anyone that she was pregnant until shortly before the birth on July 19, 1996. On that day her father took the confinement certificate to her employers.
The certificate did not state that the applicant wished to return to work after her maternity leave. He was told by the employers to tell his daughter not to worry about her job.
In September the applicant wrote saying she would like to return to work in December but the employers replied that they would be unable to re-employ her.
The industrial tribunal held that because the applicant had not...
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