The compensatory award — what can be claimed

The compensatory award can include:

• expenses resulting from the dismissal;

• lost wages from the dismissal date up to the hearing. Wages are awarded net of the tax and national insurance that would have been paid if the claimant had been working;

• lost pension rights;

• loss of statutory protection: this part of the award is supposed to reflect the loss of the job security that comes from having enough service to bring an unfair dismissal claim. In the recent past, it has been around £300. It should now be slightly higher, to reflect the need for two years’ service.

• costs directly associated with seeking new work (e.g. travel costs to interviews: keep all evidence, including receipts); and

• future net lost wages: the length of period awarded should reflect how long the claimant is likely to take to find alternative work, taking into account individual characteristics such as age and any disability, and general features such as poor economic conditions. If a claimant has not found alternative work quickly, the largest part of the compensation claim is likely to be for actual and projected net lost earnings.

• loss of pension rights amounts to more than just the money the employer would have paid into the pension fund. It is the amount of pension an individual would have been entitled to, had it not been for the unfair dismissal (Clancy v Cannock Chase Technical College [2001] IRLR 331). If the employee was in a final salary scheme, this is likely to be very significant.

• a tribunal can award compensation for loss of the opportunity to work a job share. (Stroud Rugby Football Club v Monkman [2013] UKEAT/0143/13/SM/2110).

If an employee is too sick to work at the time of the dismissal and the sickness was not caused by the dismissal itself, future lost earnings are normally limited to any sick pay they would have earned had they not been unfairly dismissed (Burlo v Langley [2007] IRLR 145). But if a tribunal is satisfied that the claimant is unfit for work as a result of the unfair dismissal (for example, depression as a result of a dismissal decision), it may award the lost wages that would have been earned if the claimant had not been unfairly dismissed (Devine v Designer Flowers [1993] IRLR 517). Careful medical evidence is needed in this kind of case, especially to show that the inability to work is as a result of the dismissal decision and did not predate the dismissal. The position is more complicated in the case of resignation and constructive dismissal (see GAB Robbins v Triggs [2008] EWCA Civ 17).

Unfair dismissal law is particularly complex where issues of dismissal following long-term sickness or injury (including possible disability) are concerned, especially where the employer may be responsible for that sickness or injury. It is vital to get early legal and medical advice, to make sure any claim is brought in time and in the right court, and with the right medical evidence.