Dismissal due to return of original post-holder

The return of an employee who was temporarily absent due to secondment, maternity or long-term illness or injury is likely to be a fair reason for dismissal of the person who has temporarily replaced them.

In particular, the employee should have been forewarned that the arrangement was temporary and would end on the return of the original member of staff. This kind of dismissal is not a redundancy, because the reason for dismissal is not a reduced need for employees. Instead, it is a dismissal for “some other substantial reason” (Greater Glasgow Health Board v Lamont [2012] UKEATS 0019/12).