When dismissing an employee, businesses must do so in a fair and reasonable manner.  Failure to fairly dismiss an employee could have serious implications for companies, which can be costly and impact morale for other workers.

At Clough & Willis, we have a great deal of experience in helping businesses with dismissal procedures, whether they have been accused of doing so unfairly or not.  For more information on how we can help, call us today on 0800 083 0815, or fill out an online enquiry form and someone will get back to you.

Reasons for dismissing an employee may include:

• Misconduct
• Poor performance 
• Sickness absence
• Refusal to accept changes to terms and conditions 
• Redundancy   

Even if you have a fair reason to dismiss an employee, they could be entitled to claim compensation if the procedure you followed is found to be unreasonable.

The following are examples of questions the Employment Tribunal will ask:

• Did you tell your employee what the problem was?
• Did you do enough to discover the facts?
• Did you give your employee the opportunity to have their say?
• Did you follow the ACAS code?

The decision to dismiss should never be taken lightly, and an Employment Tribunal will take various factors into account when deciding if your decision was fair.  These include:

• The seniority of the employee
• Length of service of the employee 
• The seriousness of the allegation 
• The strength of evidence available