If you have been unfairly dismissed from your job, you may be able to make an unfair dismissal claim at an employment tribunal and get compensation or ask for your job back.
Our unfair dismissal solicitors represent people at employment tribunals. We can tell you if we think you have a good enough case to make a claim and whether we can represent you.
For a dismissal to be fair the reason must be one of the potentially fair reasons in law, which include reasons related to the capability or qualifications of the employee, reasons related to the conduct of the employee, and redundancy.
Some dismissals are automatically unfair, and these are generally where the dismissal is for asserting a statutory right, for a reason which is to do with pregnancy or maternity leave or the other family-friendly rights, pay and working hours, including the minimum wage, trade union membership, whistle-blowing, being a part-time or fixed-term employee, or for a health and safety-related reason.
A dismissal can be judged as unfair if the employer has not acted reasonably. A dismissal can be unfair if the employer did not follow a fair procedure even if there would otherwise be a good reason for the dismissal.
Protection from unfair dismissal applies only to people classed as employees, not to all workers.
Employees need two years of continuous employment with the same employer before they are protected from unfair dismissal, unless the dismissal is for one of the automatically unfair reasons that do not require a qualifying period to make a claim.
Strict time limits apply to making an employment tribunal claim.
Compensation for unfair dismissal consists of a basic award, which is related to statutory redundancy payments, plus a compensatory award. The maximum amount for compensatory awards is index-linked but in unfair dismissal cases the employee will usually not be able to recover more than one year’s pay.
We can help in a number of ways:
In all cases the starting point is an informal discussion with one of our employment law specialists who can tell you how we can help you.
We offer a free initial consultation by telephone for most employment law matters, so we can give you an idea of whether you have a potential claim or a case where we can help you. If a specialist is not available when you call, you can make an appointment for a call back.
Contact us to arrange to speak to an employment law specialist to see if we can help you.
phone 020 3206 1360
We are a national law firm and represent clients from across England and Wales from our offices in London, Hertfordshire and Northampton.
There is usually no need to visit our offices. We can carry out meetings and appointments by telephone and video calls, with secure document sharing with our clients.
Our employment law solicitors have many years of experience and have represented people in hundreds of employment law cases.
We can undertake employment tribunal claims on a no win no fee basis where we assess the chances of success are good enough.
If you are being dismissed or made redundant and have been asked to sign an employment settlement agreement, we can give you the independent legal advice you require before signing it.
Bishopsgate Law (Hertfordshire)