Employees unfair dismissal rights

A feature of the 1978 Act is that the employee has the right not to be dismissed unfairly (s. 54) and to demand that the reasons for his dismissal be given in writing (s. 53). If he is dismissed, he is given the right to appeal to an Industrial Tribunal (s. 67). Reasons for dismissal recognised as being fair (s. 57) include ... 

Termination of employment is considered in more detail below. However, for a dismissal to be held to be fair, certain procedures must be followed and these are dealt with below. The right of appeal against unfair dismissal does not exist for employees whose continuous employment with that employer amounts to less than 1 year, to those who are beyond the retiring age normal in that employment (s. 64) and certain other classes (s. 140 et seq.). 

Up until the end of tiie 1960s an employee in the UK had little or no legal protection so far as his emplo5nnent was concerned. The employer had no duty to give the employee any specific form of contract or inform him of the basic terms of his employment. Thus, the employer had the power to dismiss virtually as and when he wanted and had no duty to give the employee the reasons for such dismissal, so the average employee, with only very few exceptions, had no continuity of employment nor any right to claim compensation when unfairly dismissed. 

Contracts can be ended in various ways. One is by due notice , given under the terms of contract by either party, and subject to the employee s right not to be unfairly dismissed. Another is by frustration , whenever something occurs to prevent the continuous performance of the contract or radically to alter its basis. Obviously death is one such instance so too may be imprisonment or lengthy... 

Where an employee considers he has been dismissed unfairly he is given a right to make a complaint (ss. 67,68,69) to an industrial tribunal, who can, if the complaint is found to have substance, decide on a prescribed remedy (re-instatement, re-engagement or compensation) to suit the case, a remedy to which the employer is bound. If the tribunal decides the dismissal was fair and the employee is still not satisfied, he can appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (s. 136) which is presided over by a High Court judge, appointed by the Lord Chancellor, sitting with two lay members. 

Dismissal is dealt with in the following section, but a Tribunal, to find a dismissal fair, must be satisfied that the dismissal was reasonable in all the circumstances. In the majority of cases this entails the employer following his own disciplinary and grievance procedures subject to the statutory DDF having been included. It is important that an employer should have formal disciplinary rules which should be communicated to each and every employee. It is a requirement of the Employment Rights Act 1996 that the written particulars of employment include the disciplinary rules that are applicable. Should such communication not have taken place the employer will not be able to rely on such rules, and a dismissal which might otherwise have been fair could be ruled unfair. Failure to follow the statutory dismissal procedure will render any dismissal automatically unfair. 

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