Dealing with Dismissals

There are five reasons why you might fairly be able to dismiss an employee.  Those reasons are as follows:-

 

a)      Incapability – this could be invoked if your employee was incapable of carrying out their job either by illness or incompetence.  There are strict procedures that you must follow to ensure that the dismissal is fair.  We can guide you through this procedure which, does not have to be time consuming, but does have to include review meetings and a performance/review procedure.

 

b)      Redundancy – redundancy, if it is genuine, can be a fair reason to dismiss an employee.  Obviously there are consultation requirements and a procedure that you must follow to ensure that redundancy is fair.  We can stand with you at each step of the way and help with each decision.

 

c)      Misconduct – it can be possible to dismiss an employee for misconduct, whether this is a one off serious act of misconduct amounting to gross misconduct or a series of acts amounting to misconduct, but carried out usually within a twelve month period.  Again we can advise you on all aspects of this procedure.

 

d)     Contravention of a duty or restriction – this can be a fair reason if you can show that you will be committing a breach of legislation by continuing to employ that employee. For example, if your employee has lost their driving licence and it is a requirement of their job that they must drive.  Again we can guide you through these procedures and ensure that the dismissal would be fair.

 

e)      Some other substantial reason – this is usually the “catch all” category and can include situations such as business reorganisations.  Business reorganisations can follow a fair procedure and result in fair dismissals, but again there are strict procedures that you must follow and we can guide you through those to ensure that dismissal is carried out fairly.