Dismissals for some other substantial reason

Section 98(1) of the ERA 96 contains a “catch-all” provision that states that it is fair to dismiss an employee for “some other substantial reason” (SOSR). There is no statutory list of reasons falling within this category, but they must be “of a kind such as to justify the dismissal of an employee holding the position which the employee held”. It has been used to justify dismissal in a variety of contexts.

Examples include business reorganisations that do not result in redundancy and dismissals for refusing to agree to unfavourable changes to contract terms, such as cuts in pay. As always, for a dismissal to be fair, the tribunal must be satisfied that the employer acted reasonably in all the circumstances (see page 284).