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Employees have a statutory right not to be unfairly dismissed if they have a minimum of 12 months service. Unfair dismissal can however be claimed by someone with less than 12 months service but only for example if they are able to relate their dismissal to their maternity, or perhaps to their having whistle-blown, acted as a union representative or as a result of having asserted a statutory right.
Since October 2004 there has been a statutory minimum dismissal procedure that must be followed in dismissing ANY employee - even those with a few days' service. To not do so would be a breach of a statutory right, and for an employee with over a year's service would make that dismissal unfair. However, simply following the minimum procedure for an employee with over 12 months' service is not enough to protect you from an unfair dismissal claim - you would additionally need to show that you had followed the ACAS Code of Practice. Unfortunately though, despite the clarity of the legislation on this point there are numerous instances we come across on a daily basis of where the correct procedure has not been followed. However, as small comfort to employers, also as of the above date, it has been a requirement for staff to appeal internally prior to pursing a claim at Tribunal. As a result, we would recommend that if any such appeal is raised by an employee claiming that their dismissal was procedurally flawed, that you start the process again and rectify your mistakes as best you can.
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