ACCA LW Eng Syllabus C. Employment Law - Explain Unfair Dismissal - Notes 4 / 6
Unfair dismissal is a statutory claim made only by 'qualified' employees
Who is a qualified employee?
Has at least two years continuous service (unless denied a statutory right)
Work in the UK
Not on unofficial strike action when dismissed
Not in an excluded profession (eg police)
What are FAIR reasons to dismiss someone?
Employee not capable of doing the job
Gross Misconduct
Redundancy
Statutory restrictions – such as a bus driver who receives a driving ban
What are automatically UNFAIR reasons for dismissal?
Pregnancy
A spent (old) conviction
Official trade union membership
Just maintaining health and safety
Enforcing rights to the minimum wage/working time regulations
Where there's doubt as to the fairness of the Employers actions, the tribunal will look at whether the Employer acted REASONABLY
This means:
(a) Did they apply the correct procedures?
(b) Did they take all relevant circumstances into consideration?
(c) What would any reasonable employer have done?