Dismissal Continued HR BHND1

Unfair Dismissal

Under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977, once an employee has been continuously employed for one year he/she has a right of action if he/she is unfairly dismissed.

If an employee has been dismissed and perceives it as being unfair he or she can bring a case to the EAT (Employment Appeals Tribunal)

Unfair Dismissal

A dismissal is considered by the EAT to be automatically unfair if the employee is dismissed for any of the following reasons:

Membership or proposed membership of a trade union or engaging in trade union activities

Religious or political opinions

Unfair Dismissal

Race, colour, sexual orientation, age or membership of the Traveller community

Pregnancy, giving birth or breastfeeding or any matters connected with pregnancy or birth

Availing of rights under legislation to maternity leave, adoptive leave, carer’s leave , parental leave or force majeure leave

Unfair Dismissal

Legal proceedings against an employer where an employee is a party or a witness

Unfair selection for redundancy

Seems straight forward?

Consider the Case of Ms Heffernan ?

Gross Misconduct

But …..

What do you think?

Justified Dismissal

Unfair Dismissal

John Doe

John worked for McDonalds for two years

John gave a friend whom he worked with extra toppings on his McFlurry

John got fired on the spot for stealing

John claimed that his friend said “don’t skimp on the toppings” so John put what he called a generous helping of toppings on his McFlurry

Appeal

John claimed unfair dismissal

What do you think?

Red or Green ?

Mary O Neill

Mary worked for a computer company called BCC for three years

BCC computers had a policy in place regarding Social Media

Mary was dismissed for putting derogatory comments about her workplace on Facebook

Mary was dismissed under the terms of gross misconduct

Appeal

Mary claimed she was having a bad day and ranted online and showed no remorse for doing so

Mary claimed unfair dismissal

What do you think?

Red or Green ?

Is it Reasonable ?

As we have seen cases that seem fair or in accordance with a companies policy and procedures – it can still be considered unfair

This is because the EAT will look at how reasonable the decision was

As we have now seen with many cases what might be considered “fair procedure” is not always considered best practice

Therefore

When companies or Human Resource departments are designing their policies it is important that they consider how reasonable their policy and procedures are

If not they may be subject to a ruling of unfair dismissal even if they are following their correct procedure