Unfair Dismissal Claim Defence Lawyers for Employers

At Lupton Fawcett, we have a team of dedicated and experienced employment solicitors who will provide you with help and advice in an unfair dismissal case and most importantly, help protect your business.

With offices based in Leeds, York and Sheffield, we have a dedicated team ready to speak to you. Simply call us on 0333 323 5292 or use the contact form on this page and we will be in touch.

Avoiding Unfair Dismissal Claims

Unless your business can prove that an employee has been dismissed for one of the five reasons set out in the Employment Rights Act 1996, you may be accused of unfair dismissal.

The five reasons for fair dismissal are:

• A lack of capability or qualifications
• Conduct of the employee (such as attendance, dishonesty and gross misconduct)
• Redundancy
• Breach of a statutory duty or restriction
• Some other substantial reason (SOSR)

However, establishing a potentially fair reason for dismissal is only half the battle. Crucially, employers also need to be able to demonstrate that they have acted reasonably in dismissing an employee if a claim for unfair dismissal is to be avoided.

Automatic Unfair Dismissal

A dismissal will be deemed ‘automatically unfair’ if an employee has been dismissed for the following reasons:

• If an employee has exercised a statutory employment right such as paternity or maternity leave
• Whistleblowing
• Trade union participation
• The dismissal was connected to a health and safety reason
• Dismissal by business transfer

Processes and Procedures

Unfair dismissal cases can also be made if your businesses did not follow a fair procedure when dismissing an employee. For example, this could include not following the usual disciplinary process before letting an employee go, selectively choosing people to make redundant or failing to offer a right of appeal.

In order to avoid this, it is imperative that your business not only has effective processes and procedures in place, but that they are followed, too.

For more information on our fees, please click here to view our up-to-date schedule of costs.

Talk to us

We have experienced Unfair Dismissal Claim Defence Lawyers for Employers ready to answer your enquiries via email or telephone.

Lupton Fawcett are a leading personal and commercial law firm in Yorkshire with well-established offices of highly experienced solicitors in Leeds, Sheffield and York.

We provide a personalised service, with sector specialists and extensive resources to ensure we are giving you the best solutions to your problems.

Within every area of law, we put your interests first.

Our Employment Law Solicitors act regularly for clients across the United Kingdom including Bradford, Birmingham, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Sheffield, York and Nottingham.  We also provide specialist niche legal and commercial services for Irish companies wishing to do business in the UK and legal advice for UK companies trading in the  Republic of Ireland.  We can support your needs wherever you live in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland.

We will always respond promptly, and we will be happy to help.