To support your understanding of unfair dismissal, the HR experts at NORi HR have put together this handy guide, providing you with everything from the definition of unfair dismissal to the reasons for unfair dismissal and unfair dismissal examples.

The best way to protect your company from future employee grievances and court action is to ensure all HR procedures, including dismissals, are carried out correctly.

What is an unfair dismissal?

A statutory right under the Employment Rights Act 1996, unfair dismissal refers to the termination of an employee’s contract without having a fair or good reason to do so.

Also referred to as unlawful dismissal, an employee can bring a claim against for a number of reasons – including if the dismissal procedure wasn’t carried out correctly but the reasoning was fair.

What are the grounds for unfair dismissal?

According to Government guidelines, there are several grounds for unfair dismissal that you should be aware of regardless of whether you’re an employee or an employer.

For employers, it’s important to make yourself aware of these, so you can avoid allegations of unfair dismissal.

A workplace dismissal is generally considered unfair if you do not have a good reason for dismissing the employee, you fail to follow the required disciplinary or dismissal procedure, or the reason provided for the dismissal was fabricated in place of the real dismissal reason.

As an employer, you may believe that you have dismissed an employee fairly. However, it’s important to keep a written record of all communications between yourself and the employee to demonstrate which actions were taken and when they were taken.

This is because an employee can still claim unfair dismissal if they believe the dismissal procedure was unreasonable or unfair.

To save your hard-earned money and valuable time that would otherwise be spent going to court, a written record and the right HR guidance could be all that’s required to demonstrate that you abided by the set dismissal procedure.

Examples of unfair dismissal

Some specific examples of unfair dismissal include dismissing an employee for asking for flexible working, refusing to change their workplace rights (such as having a break), and resigning with the right notice period as stipulated by their employment contract.

Other examples of unfair dismissal also include dismissing an employee if they’ve taken part in legal industrial action that has lasted up to 12 weeks or if they’ve taken part in a process called ‘whistleblowing’ (the act of exposing workplace wrongdoing such as sexual harassment or bullying).

These are just some examples of unfair dismissal and there are many more that you should familiarise yourself with as an employer, including the automatically unfair reasons for dismissal explored in greater detail below.

What are the automatically unfair reasons for dismissal in the UK?

One of the reasons for unfair dismissal includes acting unreasonably during the process by, for example, not following a fair procedure.

However, there are also a handful of automatically unfair reasons for dismissal, meaning the reason for dismissal is unfair, regardless of how the procedure was carried out.

These automatically unfair reasons for dismissal include pregnancy, as well as all matters relating to statutory maternity, paternity, adoption, and shared parental leave.

Additional automatically unfair reasons for dismissal also include becoming a trade union representative, being forced to retire, and taking time off work for jury duty.

Receive expert HR advice

When it comes to dismissing employees, it pays to seek out reliable expert HR advice first.

To find out more about how NORi HR can help, contact NORi HR & Employment Law on 01254 947829 or use our online contact form and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.