Unfair and Wrongful Dismissal
All employees who have 12 months’ or more continuous employment (and in some cases less), have the right NOT to be unfairly dismissed by their employer. All employees regardless of their length of service have contractual rights, whether or not there is a written contract of employment in place.
Many of an employee’s rights are derived directly from UK law, and employers should be wary of relying on terms in a written contract of employment that might in fact be contrary to UK law.
Employers must also be careful to ensure that their reason for dismissing an employee is adequate and fair in the eyes of the law, and it is vitally important that the procedure followed by an employer in terminating an employee’s employment complies with the minimum legal requirements and the ACAS code of practice.
Any dismissal that does not comply with the new statutory minimum procedural requirements will be deemed as "automatically unfair" regardless of the reason for the dismissal.
Unless an employer is confident that they have complied with the minimum procedural requirements required by UK law, they should always take advice before taking any action.