Post-termination conduct and compensatory awards

Can a claimant’s conduct after termination of their employment contract be taken into account when assessing a compensatory award? Allison Cook looks at a recent ruling.

In Cumbria County Council v Bates [2013] UKEAT 0398_11_1308 the Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that a claimant's post-termination conduct could affect the assessment of a compensatory award for unfair dismissal.

The case concerned a teacher who had been unfairly dismissed. At the remedies hearing it was revealed that the claimant had been prosecuted for assaulting a former pupil. The respondent sought an adjournment on the basis that the ongoing criminal proceedings may affect the claimant's future employment prospects and the outcome would therefore be material in assessing future loss of earnings and pension loss.

At first instance the Tribunal refused to adjourn on the basis that the outcome of the criminal proceedings was irrelevant to the compensatory award.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal overturned this decision, holding that the claimant's compensatory award could have been significantly reduced by his conviction for assault and subsequent six-week prison sentence.

Best practice

Whilst this is predominantly a legal point, any parties to litigation should bear in mind that the amount of any compensation awarded can be affected by conduct even when that conduct takes place after the termination of the employee's contract of employment.

Employers should be particularly alert to the fact that any compensatory award payable could potentially be reduced as a result of an employee's post-termination conduct.

Allison Cook is a Senior Associate at Veale Wasbrough Vizards. She can be contacted on 0117 314 5466 or by This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..