Your Rights if You are Dismissed From Work

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.

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.

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.

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WelfareAtWork Editor 14 May 2018

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.

Dee 13 May 2018

I was working part time at a delivery company as a office junior. Once, I had worked there for 8 months my manager had asked me to step outside and had said to me “can you leave within a week” I asked him for a reason and he said to me “we just need to save money” I tried to persuade them to keep me for another month so I was financially stable and he replied “not really no” I had to swallow my pride as this being my first job I was unsure of my working rights. Although, they had fired me they told me to keep my uniform as they will call me to cover when people are off. Being unable to find another job that will accept my needs as being a college student at the same time I had no choice but to accept the offer as being in the need for money. Five months later, I was offered to cover for a week in doing so, I then came across a situation of a worker in the warehouse was throwing parcels I then went and reported it to the manager and he replied “I don’t care someone else can deal with him” I then went back out to the warehouse to try and calm the situation as well as my colleagues but the member of staff that was out of control continuously threw the parcels which lead to my leg being pelted at by the man (not intentionally) this had left me with a cut and a nasty bruise on my leg because I felt that this situation shouldn’t go unresolved I then began to fill out an injury form to report what had happened but the same manager that was previously spoken off that made the remark on the driver situation had told me there’s no point and the matter will not be taken any further. I feel this wasn’t my thought and the staff in this situation showed negligence and had broken the law in a work environment of duty of care, the driver also showed gross miss conduct as he who had caused me injury was unaware of the objects inside the parcels which could have caused me a sever injury I also would like to know if I am able to claim from from all of my situations and I see this as unfair behaviour if you could respond by email it would be great! Thanks

Suzie 15 Mar 2016

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 Jul 2012

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.

dorothy 4 Jul 2012

The plans to change the laws on dismissal should be very worrying to all employees. Having to pay to go to an employment tribunal, and employers able to dismiss those who've worked for the company for less than two years - it's an employer's charter that removes many right from workers. Not all companies will take advantage, but inevitably there will be some who do, and that should scare us all. As it stands, workers do have a chance against unfair dismissal, but that will change.

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