The effective date of termination can be crucial in a number of employment contexts such as whether an employee has sufficient qualifying service to bring the claim they are making or whether the claim has been made within the time limit for that particular case.

Complications can occur when dismissal is intimated by post.  The effective date of termination then occurs when the employee has reasonably read the letter, not necessarily when it is received.

In a recent case, a recorded delivery dismissal letter was posted on 29 November and delivered to the employee’s home address on 30 November.  The employee, who had gone away for the weekend, did not read the letter until 4 December.  The effective date of termination was therefore 4 December and in this particular case meant the claim was brought in time.

There are limitations, however, on this doctrine.  For example, an employee cannot deliberately go on holiday or leave their house for a long period of time simply to avoid the consequences of receiving the letter.

If, however, the employee is genuinely absent and does not read the letter until a later date, then that latter date will be the effective date of termination for statutory purposes.