An employee that takes out a claim of unfair dismissal will result in the employer having to show that the dismissal was for a fair reason under the Employment Rights Act 1996. Section 98 ERA 1996 requires the employer to show one of five fair reasons, namely:

Capability or qualifications
Conduct of the employee
Redundancy
Contravention of a statute
Some other substantial reason

The reason for the dismissal must be one that the employer relied upon at the time of the dismissal and cannot be based on facts discovered after the termination of employment.

The employment tribunal will consider whether the dismissal for the reason relied upon by the employer was reasonable or unreasonable in accordance with equity and the substantial merits of the case.

The tribunals consider the ‘range of reasonable responses test’ when looking at the fairness of the employers decision to dismiss.How does a tribunal come to its decision when looking at the standards of a reasonable employer?

“…In judging the reasonableness of the employers conduct [the] tribunal must not substitute its decision as to what was the right course to adopt for that employer… in many … cases there is a band of reasonable responses to the employees conduct within which one employer might reasonable take one view, another quite reasonably take another…”

Per Browne-Wilkinson J
Iceland Frozen Foods Limited v Jones 1983

LPD can assist you as we have a wealth of experience in analysing the decisions of the Courts and what they regard as reasonable conduct of the employer given the circumstances of each case.