Unfair dismissal claim

Examples of unfair dismissal could include:

• the employer does not have a fair reason for dismissing the employee (there was nothing wrong with the individual’s job performance or conduct, their position was not redundant etc);
• the employer did not follow the correct process when dismissing (for example, if they have not followed their company dismissal processes or the statutory minimum dismissal procedure); or
• the individual was dismissed for an automatically unfair reason (for example, wanting to take maternity leave)

In order to demonstrate that a dismissal is fair an employer must follow the minimum Statutory Dismissal and Disciplinary Procedure and show that they acted reasonably in dismissing the employee.  

In other words, an employer must ensure that the decision to dismiss was reasonable based on all the circumstances, including the completion of a fair procedure.