Dismissals due to third party pressure

Third-party pressure can sometimes justify a fair dismissal, especially where the third party is the employer’s only or main client (Martin v JF X-Press EAT/0010/04, Greenwood v Whiteghyll Plastics Limited [2007] AER 111). Dismissal is likely to be unfair unless the employer can show it has taken all reasonable steps to avoid or mitigate the effects of the client’s demand by trying to persuade the client to change its mind (Bancroft v Interserve Facilities Management Limited [2012] UKEAT/0329/1312) and if that fails, by looking for other work on a different site (Henderson v Connect South Tyneside Limited [2010] IRLR 468).

In Bancroft, a case which involved a serious relationship breakdown and led to the sacking of a chef employed by facilities management company Interserve, the EAT suggested that Interserve should have intervened far earlier to support their employee. The case is one of several recent decisions that illustrate the precarious employment position of staff who work for outsourced service providers and the inability of standard unfair dismissal laws to respond to an increasingly fragmented workforce.