Unfair Dismissal

There are a number of reasons a dismissal might be deemed automatically unfair, and which require no minimum service length, including, (but not limited to), dismissing an employee because they:

• are pregnant, have recently given birth, or are taking or have taken maternity, paternity, adoption, or parental leave.
• have exposed wrongdoing in the workplace, known as ‘whistleblowing’ a protected disclosure.
• are a member of a trade union or have refused to join one, have taken part in lawful industrial action or acted as a union representative.
• have exercised their statutory rights, such as the right to National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage, statutory holiday pay and sick pay.
• took steps to ensure health and safety rules are followed.
• took time off for jury service

Constructive dismissal must amount to a fundamental breach of contract; it is not sufficient that the employee feels the employer has acted ‘unreasonably’, which might be one serious incident or a series of incidents when taken together are serious.
Claims for constructive dismissal can arise for a number of reasons, for example:

• The employee has not been paid
• The employee has been demoted without reason
• The employer has made fundamental changes to your working conditions
• The employee feels unsafe at work
• The employee has been subjected to victimisation, bullying or harassment in the workplace
• The trust and confidence in the employment relationship has fundamentally broken down.

That being said, the fundamental breach can be a continuing course of conduct which culminates in a “last straw’ and the final incident does not in itself need to be a fundamental breach. Note, if the employee does not leave quickly after the alleged incident(s) their employer may argue that they have accepted the treatment, and a constructive dismissal will not have occurred.

There are five fair reasons for dismissing an employee:

• Conduct/Misconduct – your behaviour amounts to misconduct, serious or gross misconduct at or outside of work.
• Capability/Performance – your health or abilities make you incapable or unwilling to do a job to the required standard.
• Redundancy – your role ceases to exist, and there is no alternative employment.
• Breach of statute – where your continued employment would contravene a statute e.g. if a lorry driver lost their driving licence.
• Some other substantial reason – this will depend on the facts of each case, but an example might be a serious personality clash with someone at your workplace.