What is Wrongful Dismissal in the Employment Relations Act 1996?
Wrongful Dismissal
In civil law, wrongful dismissal, also known as wrongful termination, is an event in which the employment contract of an individual is terminated by the employer, for a number of reasons, where the termination contravenes one or more provisions of that contract of employment, or an applicable statute provision or rule. Common reasons for dismissal are: having been made redundant or having been put on short-term or temporary duties; exceeding the agreed period of notice; taking over the responsibility or authority of someone else who is already in the job; exercising a right of first refusal and so on. Under the law of some countries, there is no longer a need for an employer to first make an attempt to resolve a dispute with an employee before being able to dismiss him. This can be viewed as an abuse of process, and is therefore deemed to be wrongful dismissal.
In a company, there can be two types of dismissals: constructive dismissal and constructive notice. Constructive dismissal is when an employee is dismissed for breach of a promise to the employer made under the employment contract. Under this type of dismissal, the employer must try to resolve the matter amicably, unless the employee has filed an unfair dismissal claim.
A basic award of dismissal is that it is unlawful for the employer to arbitrarily dismiss someone. The employment tribunal’s power to order an employer to correct this situation depends upon the circumstances of the case. In some cases, the Tribunal cannot order the employer to correct the problem unless the employer has provided proper notice to the affected individual that they will be dismissing them; in other cases, the Tribunal can make a decision itself on the basis of the employment contract and the nature of the case. In addition to a basic award of dismissal, the Tribunal is entitled to award compensation for the perceived loss or damage done to the employee, including travelling expenses, loss of earnings, and other costs. In certain cases, this award may also include punitive damages, which are intended to send the offending employer a message about their conduct.
What is Wrongful Dismissal in the Employment Relations Act 1996?
As with any other employment right, the Employment Rights Act 1996 gives employees a statutory right to be paid financially for any unfairly dismissed action. This is called “reasonable notice”; if a reasonable notice was not given, the employer must show why they did not give notice. Reasonable notice can be described as being thirty days’ notice of the intended dismissal or a statutory right to notice longer than the statutory period. It is not an automatic right but is available if the employer follows the stipulated criteria.
What is a breach of contract? Under the common law, a contract is said to be void if it is based on fraudulent or false information. If the wrong information is used in making the contract, the consequences are generally very severe, such as a lawsuit. Similarly, a breach of trust occurs when there is a breach of the individual’s expectation regarding some benefit such as dismissal. Another example is a breach of the terms of a transaction or employment agreement.
The term “unfair dismissal” is widely used because it is frequently used in courtrooms. Therefore, one needs to be aware of the possible damages for wrongful dismissal. These damages can vary and depend on the nature of the case and the rules of the Employment Tribunal. They also depend on whether or not the employee was given a contractual notice period or did not have a notice period.