Dismissal due to return of original post-holder

The return of a post-holder who was temporarily absent from work due, for example, to secondment, maternity or long-term illness or injury is likely to be a fair reason for dismissal. As usual, what is fair and reasonable depends on all the circumstances.

In particular, the employee should have been forewarned that the arrangement was temporary and would end on the return of the post-holder. 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/B1).