Dismissal: overview

Notice period

Employers must give all employees, except for employees under contract of one month or less, a minimum period of notice irrespective of the hours they work. This period is determined by the length of service.

For less than one month's service: no statutory entitlement
For one month to less than two years: one week’s entitlement
For two years: two weeks' entitlement
For three years: three weeks' entitlement

And so on, to a maximum of twelve weeks for twelve years service or more.

Fair dismissal

In the majority of cases employees leave their jobs by mutual agreement (see Resignation). Legislation also provides that an employer may fairly dismiss an employee if:

He or she has a valid reason for doing so
He or she acted reasonably in treating that reason as a sufficient reason for dismissing the employee.

A valid reason for dismissal

Legislation lists six reasons which can (in the right circumstances and where procedures have been followed correctly and fairly) constitute a valid and fair reason for dismissal. These are:

Conduct (including gross misconduct) – The employee’s conduct or behaviour falls below the acceptable standard required.
Capability - The employee is no longer capable of doing the job for reasons which are due to a medical condition or long-term sickness (subject to making reasonable adjustments), or the employee does not have the requisite skills to undertake the role to a reasonable standard.
Redundancy – There is no longer a need for the job role and it is therefore, made redundant.
Retirement - The employee has reached retirement age (the default retirement age is currently 65).
Statutory restriction - The employee can no longer carry out his/her job for legal reasons (for example, a driver who has been disqualified from driving).
Some Other Substantial Reason – The reason for the dismissal is for another 'substantial' reason that does not fall under the previous categories, for example, an unresolvable personality clash.

Note: A dismissal will also take place when a fixed-term contract expires and is not renewed, though this in itself may not constitute a valid reason for dismissal, depending on whether the employee reasonably expected the contract to be renewed.

Reasonable behaviour

An employer must act reasonably in all the circumstances in treating the reason for dismissing the employee as a sufficient reason for the dismissal. In other cases, an employers actions may give rise to claims for Unfair Dismissal, Wrongful Dismissal or Constructive Dismissal.