Subjects:

Employment Law

A flood of decisions on unfair dismissal law has continued unabated since the law on unfair dismissal was first set out in the Industrial Relations Act 1971. There have also been innumerable statutory amendments to the law, now contained in the Employment Rights Act 1996, which has itself been amended many times, most recently by the Employment Act 2002 and the Employment Relations Act 2004.

This Handbook aims to provide a clear and accurate statement of the law of unfair dismissal as at 1 April 2005. However, it does not cover every ground of unfair dismissal contained in the ERA, for example unfair redundancy dismissals and dismissals relating to pregnancy, maternity, family leave and flexible working rights are covered in the relevant IDS Employment Law Handbook.

The scheme of this Handbook is as follows:-

• Chapter 1 covers the legal definition of dismissal while Chapter 2 deals with the various exclusions from the right to claim that exist - e.g. where the claimant is not an employee, has insufficient qualifying service or is over normal retiring age
• Chapter 3 tackles the central issue of unfairness in the statutory definition and explains how the reason for dismissal must be established and how tribunals approach the issue of reasonableness
• Chapters 4 to 8 then explain the application of the general principles discussed in Chapter 3 to the different reasons for dismissal that may be put forward - capability and qualifications, sickness and disability, conduct, statutory ban and 'some other substantial reason'
• Chapters 9 to 11 are concerned with automatically unfair dismissals, discussing the special rules that apply to such dismissals before focusing on particular types of automatically unfair dismissals, including Sunday working dismissals, dismissals of occupational pension scheme trustees and employee representatives, health and safety dismissals and dismissals for asserting a statutory right
• Chapter 12 looks at the new statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedures and explains how these procedures can affect the outcome of an unfair claim
• Chapters 13 to 18 consider the remedies available in unfair dismissal cases - reinstatement, re-engagement and compensation. Chapter 18 also covers interim relief orders
• Chapter 19 examines the mechanism for recoupment from compensation awards of social security benefits received by applicants and Chapter 20 looks at the right of employees to receive a written statement of the reasons for dismissal.