Can an employee who is wrongfully dismissed from his job sue for his salary or wages?

The matter was put as clearly as it can be by Brightman L.J. in Gunton v. Richmond (at p. 593): It is clear beyond argument that a wrongfully dismissed employee cannot sue for his salary or wages as such, but only for damages. It is also, in my view, equally clear that such an employee cannot assert that he still retains his employment under the contract. If a servant is dismissed and excluded from his employment, it is absurd to suppose that he still occupies the status of a servant. Quite plainly he does not. The relationship of master and servant has been broken, albeit wrongfully by one side alone. And later (at p. 594), he said, "So in the result the servant cannot sue in debt for his wages, which he is wrongfully deprived of the opportunity to earn …" That describes this case; the plaintiff sued in debt for his wages.