Unfair Dismissal

Unfair Dismissal... Do You Know What To Do?

If a tribunal rules that an employee has been dismissed for an automatically unfair reason, you as the employer will have no defence to the claim, whether you acted reasonably or followed a fair procedure. To protect your reputation as an employer you need to ensure confidence that your processes are fair and up-to-date.

Unfair Dismissal or Wrongful Dismissal... Do You Know the Difference? Wrongful Dismissal

Wrongful dismissal is a dismissal in breach of a contract of employment. This is where the employer dismisses an employee with insufficient or no notice under the employees contract of employment. The contractual obligations of the employer are the only relevant considerations that will be heard at a Tribunal. The damages awarded by the tribunal usually equate to the value of pay and benefits had the employer terminated the contract lawfully. This award will only be considered for the period of notice that the employee should have received. For a wrongful dismissmal claim there is no minimum length of service required by the employee.

Unfair Dismissal

There are two types of unfair dismissal. Unfair dismissal and automatic unfair dismissal. It is a statutory right not to be dismissed unfairly, not a contractual one. In determining whether a dismissal is unfair, three things need to be considered.

• The employers reason for dismissal

• If the employer acted justly in treating th reason as sufficient to justify dismissing the employee; and

• Whether the employer followed a fair procedure or not.

An employee must have a minimum of two years continuous service to qualify for the right to bring forward a claim of unfair dismissal. These claims can only be bought to an employment tribunal. Compensation awarded is made up of a basic award and a compensatory award. The basic award is usually the same as a statutory redundancy payment, while the compensatory award takes into account the future loss of earnings and any other losses that may be caused by the dismissal.

Automatic Unfair Dismissal

There are certain reasons, that are set out in legislation, that will rule a dismissal as automatically unfair. If an employment tribunal establishes a dismissal as automatically unfair, as an employer, you will not be able to defend the claim. An employee does not require the usual two years minimum service in order to bring forward a claim for most of the automatically unfair reasons for dismissal.

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