Unfair Dismissal

What qualifies as unfair dismissal?

Unfair dismissal is where an employer terminates an employee's contract without a fair reason to do so, unfair dismissal can be claimed by the employee if the employer had a fair reason but handled the dismissal using a wrong procedure.

What are examples of unfair dismissal?

Incapacity; where the worker does not do the job properly or the worker is unable to do the job due to illness or disability, retrenchment or redundancy; where the employer is cutting down on staff or restructuring the work and work of a particular kind has changed.

When can you claim unfair dismissal?

If you have been dismissed for an automatically unfair reason it does not matter how long you have worked for your employer, a claim must be made within 3 months less 1 day of the date your employment ended and in almost all cases the date your employment ends is the last day of your notice period.

What are the five fair reasons for dismissal?

5 fair reasons for dismissal; conduct and misconduct; minor issues of conduct and misconduct such as poor timekeeping can usually be handled by speaking informally to the employee, capability and performance, redundancy, statutory illegality or breach of a statutory restriction and some other substantial reason.

What happens when an employee is unfairly dismissed?

If you feel you have been unfairly dismissed by your employer you should try appealing under your employer's dismissal or disciplinary procedures, if this does not work then you may be able to make an appeal to an industrial tribunal.

Do I need a solicitor for unfair dismissal?

Potential claimants who want to bring an unfair dismissal claim must first contact ACAS in order to commence early conciliation, prior to this step a potential claimant should seek legal advice particularly to see if a no win, no fee agreement can be offered by a specialist employment solicitor.

Do you need to give 3 warnings when terminating an employee?

There is no legislative requirement specifying that an employee must be given a certain number of written warnings before being dismissed for poor performance, for example there is no rule that an employee must receive three written warnings.

Who Cannot claim unfair dismissal?

Volunteers, interns and work experience participants are not eligible for a remedy under unfair dismissal laws, a person is protected from unfair dismissal if among other things they are an employee.

How much do you get for unfair dismissal UK?

The maximum amount that you can be awarded as compensation for constructive dismissal is the statutory cap of £89,493 or 52 weeks gross salary whichever is the lower, this is in addition to the basic award which can be ordered by the tribunal of up to a maximum of £16,320.

Can you get fired without a written warning?

It is possible to dismiss even on a first offence and without any prior warnings having been issued but that will depend on the severity of the offence, the circumstances under which it was committed and the provisions of the employer's disciplinary code.