Your Rights if You Are Dismissed from Work

Author: Emma Jones

Being dismissed from work is never a good experience and can be stressful and upsetting. However, if the reasons are unfair or you have been forced to leave because of your employer’s behaviour, then it can be even worse. If you think that you have been unfairly or wrongfully dismissed then you have every right to take your company to an employment tribunal.

Fair Dismissal

If you have been dismissed for a good reason then, as upsetting as it is, your employer has every right to do it. Valid reasons include you being unable to do the job, your conduct or redundancy. If you have worked there for over a year or are on maternity leave then you have the right to see the reasons in writing. However, even if the reasons for dismissal are fair, unless you are guilty of gross misconduct, then your employer still has to comply with the terms of your contract, giving you reasonable notice.

Unfair Dismissal

If you have been dismissed and you believe it was unfair, then you have the right to take action. Your employer must have a valid reason to dismiss you and must act reasonably and fairly when they do it. They need to have taken the time to explore the problem adequately and taken at the least the steps under the statutory minimum dismissal process. If they have not met these requirements then you may have a case for unfair dismissal.

Workplace Rights Checker

Tell us what is happening at work and find out which UK employment rights apply and what you can do.

Try our Workplace Rights Checker free, here on this site →

Wrongful Dismissal

It is possible to be both unfairly and wrongfully dismissed. You have been wrongfully dismissed if your employer has breached the terms of your contract. A contract doesn’t have to be written, it may be a verbal agreement. Though obviously this is more difficult to prove.

Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.

Constructive Dismissal

Constructive dismissal is when an employee is forced to quit their job, even though they don’t want to, because of the behaviour of their boss or colleagues. It can be very hard to prove that things were so bad that you were forced to leave so you may want to take legal advice. Situations that may be constructive dismissal include bullying or harassment, making unreasonable changes to your working conditions suddenly demoting you for no reason.

Employment Tribunals

If you think that you have been unfairly or wrongly dismissed, or were forced into constructive dismissal then you will probably want to take action against your employer. Firstly you must make a claim through your company’s grievance process then if that doesn’t work you should try mediation through a union. If this doesn’t work then you should take your employer to an employment tribunal.

Your employer should treat you fairly, both while you are working for them and in the case of a dismissal. There are valid reasons for dismissing someone but even then, your employer must not breach your contract and must take certain steps, unless you have been guilt of gross misconduct. If you think you have been unfairly or wrongfully dismissed then you should take the steps to make a formal complaint against your employer.

The Next Step

Now that you have read through the advice above, you might want to put it into practice. Our Workplace Rights Checker lets you tell us what is happening at work and find out which UK employment rights apply and what you can do. Try it now →

3 questions

Ask Welfare at Work a Question

WelfareAtWork Editor 14/05/2018 at 11:43 am

If you’re a worker and you’ve tried solving a problem or concern informally by talking to your manager but you’re not satisfied, you can make a formal grievance complaint in writing.

Suzie 15/03/2016 at 11:23 am

It's approx 3yrs since I was told to resign or b sacked as I owned up to a mistake I made ( over the 10 yrs I had been with ltsb I had made a few ) I said to my TL I think I forgot to ask another security question to wich my TL listened to call and said I had next I was taken into office ( union rep was there ) and was told I had to go I had a massive paid attack nd was took to hospital I can't remember what was said I did repeatedly ask for Minutes as to what was said still nothing to this day ( I really wanted to no what was said ) how do I go about finding this out also how long do you have to find out

itsa 10/07/2012 at 7:59 am

After a year of organizing, planning, ordering and building plans for a new ceramic tiling course at a sports college, not getting paid for my efforts and living 50 miles away every time there was a meeting.I said that if we have a taster days for one day a week for 3 weeks in July, that would give me a class of students to start in the coming September.Mark Smith (Deputy Head) said that would be a great idea, but he did not know quite what a taster day ment and gave me 6 students for 5 hours ( year 10 & year 11 ages of 15/16) which where hand picked my Mr. Smith because of thier poor Behavior at normal teaching at school.These where not students that wanted to be there but where told to be there.I had no key to the classroom, no mobile number for Mr. Smith or extension number, so if things where going wrong I would be their by my self. With no proper equipment, tools, washing facilities and no Health & Safety in place.Things did go wrong at the ending of the day with 2 students throwing wet tiling adhesive at each other which is very Dangerous, after telling them 4 times to stop throwing the adhesive, I swore at one off them because he was not stopping, he told his mother and she reported me the Mr. Smith who said that she is going to make a formal report and surgested that I do not work for them any more after just one day that was suppose to be just a taster day. This job was to last at least 2 years and lasted one day.

Ask Welfare at Work a question

Ask our editorial team a question and we will reply with our advice. Tell us as much about your situation as you can: the more detail you give, the more useful our answer can be.

You do not need to use your real name. Please do not include your full address, phone number, email address, or the names of other people. We may edit or remove identifying details for privacy and legal reasons.

Comments are moderated before publication.