Unfair Dismissal Claims - A Guide
Employment solicitor’s advice on unfair dismissal claims
No win no fee
Where your claim maybe very strong our employment solicitors maybe able to offer you a no win no fee payment scheme. If your unfair dismissal solicitor does not win your case, then you pay nothing. In successful cases the legal fee will comprise of an agreed percentage of the total sum recovered.
Fixed Fee Stages
In some cases our employment lawyers will offer you agreed fixed fees for various stages of the case: pre-action, compromise agreement, ET1 claim, witness statements and the hearing.
Definition of unfair dismissal
This is where an employee is dismissed for reasons that are unlawful and unreasonable - your unfair dismissal solicitor will be able to give you advice on whether your case qualifies. A qualifying employee is eligible to bring a claim to the Employment Tribunal to for compensation if you have worked there for more than 12months. Alternately, you can request reinstatement, wherein the employer is ordered to allow the employee to return to work.
Your contract of employment
Employees are protected by a variety of statutes. You are protected from being discriminated against in the work place by the Race Relations Act, the Disability Discrimination Act, Age Discrimination and the Sex Discrimination Act. In addition to this, an employee’s employment contract and employer’s handbook and policies also offer you protection from unlawful actions on the part of the employer.
Is your dismissal unfair?
Not all dismissals will be deemed unfair or unlawful. There are a some circumstances where an employer is entitled to terminate an employment contract. These circumstances include: -
1. Gross Misconduct: An employee whose conduct is unacceptable such as theft, assault, coming to work inebriated, violent or abusive behaviour. It also includes anti-social behaviour which negatively effects the business, including its effect on clients, customers and other employees.
2. Capability: An employee who is incapable of performing their duties. Such as an employee may be unable to perform their job because of a lack of skill, training, knowledge, education or competence.
3. Redundancy: When genuine, redundancy is a legitimate reason for terminating an employment contract. Redundancy is a where either the business closes down or there is a no longer a need for the employee’s role. However, not all claims of redundancy are legitimate. Sometimes employers attempt to use redundancy as an excuse for dismissing an employee when no lawful reason exists.
There is also a general principal for cases where an employer can show some other substantial reason which justifies the dismissal of the employee. The Employment Tribunal is given some discretion in determining what these legitimate reasons are for dismissing an employee.
Automatic grounds for Unlawful Dismissal of employment
Situations where the dismissal is clearly unlawful include those, which involve: -
- Discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, race, religion, disability or age;
- For being on maternity or paternity leave
- Refusing to work more than 48 hours per week