Employee Dismissals.

A dismissal is when an employer chooses to end the employment relationship.

This includes:

• Terminating an employee’s contract
• Making an employee redundant
• Refusing to renew a temporary employee’s term.

Dismissals can be further categorised as actual dismissals or constructive dismissals. An actual dismissal is when the employer directly terminates the employment. A constructive dismissal is when the employer’s conduct causes the employee to resign.

Where an employee decides to end an employment relationship, this is known as resignation.

You can dismiss an employee based on the findings of a disciplinary procedure but how you handle that procedure is key to staying legally compliant, otherwise, you could face claims.

Following the correct procedures can help protect your company from unfair and wrongful dismissal claims and provide evidence of reasonable practices.

The key procedural steps for a disciplinary include:

1. Conducting a full investigation into the circumstances.
2. Notifying the employee of concerns, allegations, evidence, and potential consequences in writing.
3. Allowing the employee to respond and provide their defence.
4. Holding a fair disciplinary hearing. In some circumstances, employees have a legal right to request someone else join them.
5. Deciding the outcome and letting the employee know in writing, including reasons.
6. Providing the employee with the option to appeal.

If you suspect an ex-employee is going to raise a claim against you, or you already know about a claim, you should seek legal advice right away.

Acting fast can help protect your business’s reputation and could even prevent your case from being escalated to the Employment Tribunal.

You can book an initial consultation with our employment expert on 0203 007 5500.

First of all, you need to ensure you are dismissing someone according to the fair reasons guidelines. Fair reasons for dismissals include:

• Capability
• Conduct
• Redundancy
• Illegality
• Other substantial reasons.

Once you have established a fair reason, you must follow a fair procedure according to your reason. For example, a conduct dismissal is handled differently to a redundancy.

For more information about fair reasons and procedures, you can read our “5 fair reasons for dismissals” blog.

If you are faced with an employment claim, you need to seek a specialist driving offence solicitor as soon as possible.

Instructing a solicitor will ensure:

• You understand your position from a legal perspective
• Any defences to the claim have been identified
• Clear legal advice on your options
• The correct statutory procedure is followed
• Court representation from an experienced dismissals solicitor
• The best possible outcome for your case

To contact one of our solicitors, please call us on 0203 007 5500.

A simple unfair/wrongful dismissal case that settles before needing to submit a claim to the Employment Tribunal hearing will cost in the region of £2,500 to £5,000 plus VAT. This is based on the approximate 8 to 16 hours of work it will take to settle your claim with your employer. Costs can increase with complexity and how long the case goes on for. If your case proceeds to the Employment Tribunal, you can expect to pay over £15,000 plus VAT. We don’t offer fixed fees for unfair dismissal.

There may be additional fees payable, such as barrister fees and administration fees to create bundles and other paperwork. Barrister fees will vary based on the experience level of the chosen barrister.

The general rule is that the Employment Tribunal is a cost-neutral environment, so neither party is rarely made responsible for the other side’s costs. However, there are exceptions to this general rule.

Our solicitors charge £295 to £550 per hour, plus VAT depending on the seniority of who is working on your employment matter. Our average costs represent the work involved across the period it usually takes to either settle your case out of court or proceed to a full hearing.

The stages below are indicative of the work involved in bringing an unfair dismissal claim to court. 

• Taking your initial instructions, reviewing the papers and advising you on merits and likely compensation (this is likely to be revisited throughout the matter and subject to change)
• Entering into early conciliation where this is mandatory to explore whether a settlement can be reached
• Preparing to submit your claim or your response to a claim
• Reviewing and advising on a claim or response from the other party
• Exploring settlement and attempting to negotiate a settlement throughout the process
• Preparing or considering a schedule of loss
• Preparing for (and attending) a Preliminary Hearing
• Exchanging documents with the other party and agreeing on a bundle of documents
• Taking witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing their content with witnesses
• Preparing bundle of documents
• Reviewing and advising on the other party’s witness statements
• Agreeing on a list of issues, a chronology and/or cast list
• Preparation and attendance at Final Hearing, including instructions to Counsel

Depending on when your matter settles, not all stages may be applicable.

No two unfair dismissal cases are the same, and there are many factors that affect how much your case will cost.

Cost Variables include:

• Whether the claim includes elements of discrimination and/or victimisation. This includes issues around whether the claimant has a disability and whether this is disputed by the defendant
• Whether whistleblowing is, or could have been the cause for dismissal
• Whether or not an application for costs is going to be made
• If there are complexities arising from Transfers of Undertakings (TUPE)
• The number of witnesses and documents involved in a case
• The involvement of any experts to verify evidence or a person’s condition

If the case proceeds to a hearing, an additional daily fee of £1,200 to £2,400 plus VAT will be applied for the solicitor in attendance, depending on the seniority of the solicitor.

There are currently no mandatory disbursements payable for Employment Tribunal cases. However, there may be additional fees incurred for travel and expert witnesses. If any additional disbursements are required, we will always consult with you first unless there are practical reasons why this is not possible.

This depends on at which stage your case is resolved. For matters that are settled out of court during pre-claim conciliation, your case can take a period of 4-8 weeks.

If your claim proceeds to a Final Hearing, this will depend on the Employment Tribunal’s availability. Typically, HMCTS aims to list a preliminary case management hearing date within 26 weeks from when the claim commenced. The final hearing date is generally set at the preliminary case management hearing. The court is currently scheduling final hearings around 18 months are the preliminary case management hearing.