Wrongful dismissal claims

Being dismissed from your job can be incredibly stressful, and we want to make sure anyone who is wrongfully dismissed receives fair, expert legal advice. If you believe you have been wrongfully dismissed, you have some options:

• Bring your claim in the County or High Court
• Bring your claim in an Employment Tribunal

If you choose to bring your wrongful dismissal claim in a County or High Court, you have six years from the date of termination to do so. If you wish to take the Employment Tribunal route, you must first notify the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS). ACAS will then contact your employer and try to achieve “early conciliation”, which can take up to six weeks

All employees are entitled to bring a wrongful dismissal claim, regardless of their length of service with the employer. Your employer reserves the right to let you go during your probationary period, as long as they give you a reason (such as poor performance, gross misconduct, poor attendance). If you are let go during this period it’s imperative that you understand the parameters of your probationary period as outlined in your employment contract. If a breach has occurred, you may be eligible to bring a wrongful dismissal claim.

Wrongful dismissal only concerns dismissal in breach of employment contracts. Unfair dismissal is when an employee may have been dismissed without fair reasoning or proof.

Wrongful dismissal only concerns your employment contract and whether your employer has dismissed you in breach of it. There is no consideration on whether the dismissal was “fair” (See unfair dismissal page for this). The focus is purely on whether your employer breached a term of contract of employment. Most commonly, it may refer to whether you’ve been dismissed without notice, or with less than the stated (within your contract or statutory) minimum notice period. The statutory minimum notice period cannot be less than one week for each year of your service with your employer, and is capped at 12 weeks. For your employer to dismiss you without breaching the terms of your contract, they need to give you advance notice of your termination, and for it to comply with statutory terms or the terms within your contract. In some instances, an employer may pay a dismissed employee in lieu of notice, rather than permitting them to work their notice period. Paying in lieu of notice is more than often accepted as damages for these claims. This payment would not be classed as a breach of contract and would not likely hold up as grounds for a wrongful dismissal claim. However, if the employee’s contract did not include the right to terminate by issuing a payment in lieu of notice, they could still bring a claim.