If you are an employee with a year's continuous service or more then you have general statutory protection against your employer dismissing you unfairly.

In order for a dismissal to be fair it must be:

1. For a fair reason;
2. Having followed a fair process; and
3. Fair in all the circumstances.

Employees with under a year’s service have the right to bring an unfair dismissal claim in specific circumstances. Read more information about this.

Fair Reason

The statutory fair reasons for dismissal are as follows: a) a reason relating to incapability or; b) a reason relating to your conduct or; c) a reason relating to redundancy or; d) dismissal in circumstances where your continuing to work would be in breach of the law; e) some other substantial reason; or f) retirement.

An employer must be able to show that the genuine reason for dismissal fell into one of the above categories and that it acted reasonably in treating the reason as sufficient to justify dismissal.

Procedural Fairness

The employer must also be able to show that they have followed a procedure which is fair in all of the circumstances. For example, in a case of incapacity, it should be able to prove that the employee was afforded ample chance to improve and given appropriate support and/or training prior to the dismissal. Even if the dismissal is for a fair reason, such as redundancy, it can still be an unfair dismissal if the procedure followed is not fair.

The above information provides a very basic and general introduction to the topic of unfair dismissal. If you consider that you may have been unfairly dismissed you should seek specific advice based upon the circumstances of your case.

For further information contact our team or your usual contact in the firm.