Unfair dismissal claims are on the increase and can be expensive and time consuming to defend. The maximum Compensatory Award for unfair dismissal is currently £55,000. This is in addition to the Basic Award, the maximum of which is currently £8,100. These amounts can have a significant impact on your business. It is obviously good business practice to avoid the need for dismissals in the first place. Clients realise that the way to do this is to place more emphasis on the recruitment of candidates and the development of employees by way of regular appraisals and training. It is also a good idea to adopt the European model of longer probationary periods within which to assess employees.

However, inevitably some employees will not live up to expectations and you will be looking for the most cost effective and “fair” way of dismissing them.

In order to dismiss an employee fairly and (in respect of those with more than one year’s continuous employment) avoid liability for unfair dismissal, you will need to dismiss for one of the five statutory fair reasons (redundancy, lack of capability or qualifications, misconduct, breach of a statutory duty or some other substantial reason – “SOSR”).

However, in addition to having a fair reason to dismiss, you must also demonstrate that you have adopted a fair procedure in dismissing that employee and have acted reasonably in all the circumstances.

Whilst it is not always possible to avoid an employee bringing a claim, there are many steps you can take to minimise the risk of them doing so or, at the very least, reduce the level of any award made by a Tribunal.

What can we do for you?

We can help you through the complexity of these procedures and provide as much or as little support as you need. When commercial reality dictates that an employer/employee relationship needs to come to an end, we can help you to negotiate a mutual termination of the employment. In some cases even where you have followed your procedures, an employee may still bring a claim and again we can help you to defend any such claims and to minimise the impact this has on your business.