What is a dismissal?

The first question in any unfair dismissal claim is often whether there has been a dismissal at all. There is a dismissal where:

• the employment contract is expressly terminated by the employer;

• an employer repudiates (terminates) the contract by fundamentally breaching it, for example by imposing a large pay cut where the contract does not allow this;

• a fixed-term contract is not renewed. This includes all types of fixed-term contract, including fixed-term contracts for a single project;

• an employee resigns in response to a fundamental breach of the employment contract (known as constructive dismissal);

• an employee resigns in response to a clear ultimatum: “resign or you will be sacked”;

• a contract ends because of a redundancy situation, voluntary or compulsory;

• a woman is not allowed to return to work after maternity leave;

• there is a refusal to re-employ after a business reorganisation, such as a sale, merger or takeover; or

• an employee resigns because of a serious detrimental change to working conditions resulting from a business transfer (see Chapter 12: TUPE).