§ Mr. ThorntonI beg to move Amendment No. 16, in Clause 3, in page 3, line 41, to leave out "by summary dismissal" and to insert "without notice".
This small Amendment is necessary to ensure that the definition of the Clause is wide enough to cover the various types of termination of employment which we want to cover and which, I think that the House will agree, we ought to cover. I am advised that "summary dismissal" is too narrow an expression for this purpose. It could be taken to imply that dismissal was both intentional and lawful, but we want also to cover cases of wrongful dismissal by the employer and cases where the contract is terminated not intentionally by the employer but by operation of the law. The latter is the sort of case dealt with in the new Clause—"Implied or constructive termination of contract". The Amendment would prevent any doubt as to whether such a case could come within the scope of the Bill.
§ Amendment agreed to.