What is Unfair Dismissal?

In general you need to have at least one year's continuous employment with an employer to be able to bring an employment claim for unfair dismissal, although there are some exceptions to this general rule.

Unless your former employer can show that the dismissal was for one of 6 recognised "fair" reasons and that the dismissal was handled in a fair manner, you will have been unfairly dismissed and you can be awarded compensation by an Employment Tribunal.

What is Constructive Dismissal?

You can be constructively dismissed if your employer has acted totally unreasonably towards you, for instance by reducing your pay without your agreement, demoting you for no good reason, bullying or harassing you.

An employee should usually lodge a grievance to their employer about the unreasonable treatment before  starting an  unfair constructive dismissal claim, otherwise under the new ACAS Code, any compensation could be reduced by up to 25%. 

How much Compensation can be awarded?

The maximum compensation that a Tribunal can order for a "normal" unfair dismissal is  £76,700. This is compromised of two parts, the Basic Award and the Compensatory Award.

The Basic Award depends on your age, length of employment and gross weekly earnings. At present, the limit for the basic award is  £11,400.

The Compensatory Award, with a maximum of  £65,300 is based upon your actual financial losses suffered, in most cases  being your loss of earnings (plus benefits such as company car and pension). Even if you get a new job after being dismissed you can still bring a claim for any difference in the level of earnings between the two jobs.

Employment Tribunal?

As a general rule, you must bring your employment claim to an Employment Tribunal  three months less a day from your Effective Date of Termination. The Tribunal is extremely unlikely to extend this time to allow you to bring a claim. There are quite complex rules about when the Effective Date of Termination is, and for that reason it is vital to get advice as soon as possible after your dismissal.

We have extensive experience of acting in claims for unfair dismissals from our offices in Oxford and Reading. If you would like to enquire about a possible unfair dismissal claim or constructive dismissal employment claim please contact

Jonathan West on (01865) 812020  or (01189) 497018