In McKie v Swindon College, the High Court ruled that an ex-employer was liable to one of its former employees for the civil wrong of negligent misstatement, when it made careless, untrue comments about him in an e-mail to his new employer, which led to his dismissal.

Mr McKie worked for Swindon College from 1995 to 2002. After periods of employment with two other Colleges he became director of studies at the University of Bath in May 2008. The HR director at Swindon College, sent an e-mail to the University of Bath, stating that Mr McKie would never be re-employed because of very real safeguarding concerns for students, that there were serious staff relationship problems during his employment and it believed that similar issues had arisen with a subsequent employer. The University of Bath dismissed Mr McKie because of the email.

The evidence, including that of several of Mr McKie’s former colleagues, demonstrated that the contents of Swindon College’s e-mail were “largely fallacious and untrue”. As the information arose from the employment relationship a duty of care existed even though six years had passed since Mr McKie had left. It was therefore fair, just and reasonable to impose a duty of care on the ex-employer. Furthermore, the College must have realised that its e-mail might have an impact on the employee’s employment, so the damage caused was eminently foreseeable. The College had committed the civil wrong (‘tort’) of negligent misstatement, which caused Mr McKie’s dismissal and was therefore liable.