The law is stated as at 19 December 2007
Are damages in wrongful dismissal claims affected if the employee has another job to go to?
Yes. The sums payable by the employer will usually be reduced if the employee has another job. As the basis of a wrongful dismissal claim is in contract, an employee has a duty to mitigate his loss. In practice this means that an employee must try to find another reasonable job at the same or similar level of remuneration. This principle of mitigation means that an employee who has been wrongfully dismissed will have a deduction from any damages if they:
- fail to apply for another job (ie they do not try to mitigate the loss), or
- gets another job with the same or a better remuneration package (in which case there is no loss).
The employee ‘loses’ compensation in both cases. The only circumstance where the employee will recover full wrongul dimissal compensation is where they try to find alternative employment and fail, or, through no fault of their own, they do obtain other work but at a much lower level of pay.
While every care has been taken in compiling these notes, the CIPD cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions; the notes are not intended to be a substitute for specific legal advice.