Employee Dismissal – It’s Not The Apprentice

You’re fired!

Employee Dismissal

Dismissing a member of staff is never an easy decision to take. Whatever you decide you must follow the correct legal procedures. HR Hound will guide you through each stage and help you avoid costly mistakes.

Making the decision to dismiss someone because of disciplinary or performance issues – and not redundancy – is a serious undertaking. You must have adequate grounds for the staff dismissal and make sure the whole process is dealt with properly.

Most dismissals will be as a result of a pattern of behaviour, and the offender must know this. Clear warnings are essential and should be documented on the employee’s record. ‘You’re late!’ can only be regarded as an observation of someone’s timekeeping, not a warning that improvements must be made.

Other common reasons for staff dismissal:-

Performance – the reasons have to be properly dealt with before staff dismissal can take place. We’ll guide you through the procedure for this.

Capability – where the employee has neither the skills nor the aptitude for the role. It may also mean that they may have misrepresented themselves at the recruitment stage, or that that they’ve been poorly recruited or trained.

Capability may also refer to their inability attend work regularly and prolonged or repeated illness may give you grounds for staff dismissal.

The staff dismissal must be managed in accordance with the organisation’s documented procedures, and the procedures must comply with legislation. If you deviate from them you may find yourself facing an unfair dismissal claim.

Making a job role redundant, instead of dealing with the performance of the person occupying the role, just to avoid any confrontation is also likely to land your business in legal hot water.

Take advice early before action is implemented so you business doesn’t face high costs in defending an untenable position.

Call us on 01244 300413