UK law describes unfair dismissal as firing an employee without a fair reason to do so. There are five reasons for a fair dismissal:
Poor conduct.
Lack of capability or qualifications.
Redundancy.
A statutory duty or restriction that forbids employment from continuing—such as when a courier suffers a driving ban.
Some other substantial reason that explains the dismissal.
So with that in mind, the following are types of unfair dismissal:
A reason that the employment tribunal deems to be "automatically unfair".
Dismissing one of your staff without a fair dismissal procedure.
Right now, these reasons remain vague. So, we're here to give you concrete examples and help you make sure you never exercise unfair dismissal.
Unfair Dismissal Qualifying Period
Normally, there's no "qualifying period" for automatically unfair dismissal. If you fire someone on their first day and it's for a reason that's automatically unfair, they can make a claim. When the reason for the dismissal isn't automatically unfair, the employee needs to have worked for you for two years (minus one week) to make a claim. They must have the employment status of an employee, too—not a worker or self-employed.
