The Case for a Human Rights Act Based Approach to Unfair Dismissals Engaging Convention Rights: Challenging Judicial Attitudes and Assessing Potential

The protection which the law of unfair dismissal offers to those dismissed in circumstances which engage their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights is anaemic. In such circumstances, judges continue to take a deferential approach to managerial discretion. This paper seeks to make the argument that judges should apply the same rigorous standards in unfair dismissal cases as they do in public law under the Human Rights Act. In doing so, the author challenges prevailing judicial attitudes in labour law, including a critical treatment of the judgement in Turner v East Midlands Trains, and assesses the impact that a genuine Human Rights Act based approach would have on this area.