Employment Rights Act 1996

Chapter III Supplementary

133 Death of employer or employee

(1) Where—

(a) an employer has given notice to an employee to terminate his contract of employment, and

(b) before that termination the employee or the employer dies,

this Part applies as if the contract had been duly terminated by the employer by notice expiring on the date of the death.

(2) Where—

(a) an employee’s contract of employment has been terminated,

(b) by virtue of subsection (2) or (4) of section 97 a date later than the effective date of termination as defined in subsection (1) of that section is to be treated for certain purposes as the effective date of termination, and

(c) the employer or the employee dies before that date,

subsection (2) or (4) of section 97 applies as if the notice referred to in that subsection as required by section 86 expired on the date of the death.

(3) Where an employee has died, sections 113 to 116 do not apply; and, accordingly, if the industrial tribunal finds that the grounds of the complaint are well-founded, the case shall be treated as falling within section 112(4) as a case in which no order is made under section 113.

(4) Subsection (3) does not prejudice an order for reinstatement or re-engagement made before the employee’s death.

(5) Where an order for reinstatement or re-engagement has been made and the employee dies before the order is complied with—

(a) if the employer has before the death refused to reinstate or re-engage the employee in accordance with the order, subsections (3) to (6) of section 117 apply, and an award shall be made under subsection (3)(b) of that section, unless the employer satisfies the tribunal that it was not practicable at the time of the refusal to comply with the order, and

(b) if there has been no such refusal, subsections (1) and (2) of that section apply if the employer fails to comply with any ancillary terms of the order which remain capable of fulfilment after the employee’s death as they would apply to such a failure to comply fully with the terms of an order where the employee had been reinstated or re-engaged.

134 Teachers in aided schools

(1) Where a teacher in an aided school is dismissed by the governors of the school in pursuance of a requirement of the local education authority under paragraph (a) of the proviso to section 24(2) of the [1944 c. 31.] Education Act 1944, this Part has effect in relation to the dismissal as if—

(a) the local education authority had at all material times been the teacher’s employer,

(b) the local education authority had dismissed him, and

(c) the reason or principal reason for which they did so had been the reason or principal reason for which they required his dismissal.

(2) For the purposes of a complaint under section 111 as it has effect by virtue of subsection (1)—

(a) section 117(4)(a) applies as if for the words “not practicable to comply” there were substituted the words “not practicable for the local education authority to permit compliance”, and

(b) section 123(5) applies as if the references in it to the employer were to the local education authority.