Failure to reply to Employer’s Letter does not constitute Self-Dismissal

In Zulhayir v JJ Food Services Ltd the EAT has held that an employee was not ‘self-dismissed’ when he failed to reply to a letter stating he would be taken to have resigned unless he contacted the employer. The employment judge had followed an approach rejected by the Court of Appeal in London Transport Executive v Clarke, where the majority had stated that a repudiation by an employee must be accepted by the employer if it is to be relied on as terminating the contract. In the instant case, the language of the employer’s letter did not amount to acceptance of the employee’s breach.