Unfair Dismissal
An unfair dismissal claim asks the Employment Tribunal to decide whether your employer had a fair reason to dismiss you AND whether they followed a fair process. Both have to be right — a fair reason handled badly is still unfair dismissal.
Cases on file
3
Claimant win rate
100%
Cases reaching a determination
Median damages awarded
£14,200
Where compensation was awarded
What the tribunal actually decides
Under section 98 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, the tribunal asks two questions:
- Did the employer have a potentially fair reason to dismiss? There are five: capability, conduct, redundancy, illegality, and "some other substantial reason."
- Did the employer act reasonably in treating that reason as sufficient to dismiss? This is the "range of reasonable responses" test — the tribunal doesn't ask what it would have done, but whether a reasonable employer could have dismissed.
Process matters as much as substance. A genuine misconduct case can become unfair dismissal if the investigation was botched, the employee wasn't given the evidence against them, or there was no proper right of appeal.
Common pitfalls employers hit
- Treating long-term sickness as a conduct issue instead of capability
- Failing to consult before redundancy
- Pre-judging the outcome before the disciplinary hearing
- Refusing to consider reasonable adjustments for a disabled employee before dismissing for capability
- Skipping the appeal stage
Cases on Unfair dismissal
Redundancy with no consultation: a small employer's costly mistake
A graphic designer was told her role was redundant in a five-minute meeting with no warning, no consultation and no consideration of alternatives. The tribunal awarded £14,200.
Dismissed over a private Facebook post: when does social media cross the line?
A care worker was sacked for gross misconduct after a Facebook comment about a colleague. The tribunal found the dismissal unfair — but reduced compensation by 25% for contributory conduct.
Dismissed during long-term sick leave: a capability dismissal that went too fast
Employer dismissed a long-serving warehouse worker after eight months of sickness absence without obtaining an up-to-date medical report. The tribunal found the dismissal unfair.
Frequently asked
- How long do I have to bring an unfair dismissal claim?
- Three months less one day from your effective date of termination. You must first contact ACAS for early conciliation, which pauses the clock. Miss the deadline and the tribunal usually has no power to hear your claim.
- Do I need two years' service to claim unfair dismissal?
- For ordinary unfair dismissal, yes — you generally need two years' continuous service. But "automatically unfair" dismissals (whistleblowing, asserting a statutory right, pregnancy, trade union activity, and others) have no minimum service requirement.
- What can I get if I win?
- A basic award (calculated like statutory redundancy pay) plus a compensatory award for lost earnings, capped at the lower of 52 weeks' pay or a statutory maximum (£115,115 from April 2024). Reinstatement is technically available but rarely ordered.
- What are the five potentially fair reasons for dismissal?
- Capability, conduct, redundancy, illegality, and "some other substantial reason" (SOSR). Even if the employer has one of these reasons, the dismissal can still be unfair if the process was unreasonable.