Employment Law
If you have been injured at your workplace because of the actions of your employer, you may well be eligible for wrongful dismissal claims. While each case will be different, if you have suffered a serious injury because of your employer’s negligence, you are entitled to seek damages for your injuries. What is meant by ‘vilful’ is that which is intended to deliberately and willfully annoy or abuse another person, with a view to either force that person to leave the employer’s employments, or to make the other person feel uncomfortable or vulnerable in the workplace. As employers are very careful about putting people in positions of disadvantage, and about giving them the boot, sometimes they take the situation too far and end up being negligent in their treatment of employees.
If you do suffer unfair dismissal at work, you will be able to make a claim for unfair dismissal compensation, where you are offered two years as compensation. You need to show that you have suffered a miscarriage of justice or have been unfairly dismissed. The main difference between a miscarriage of justice and an unfair dismissal claim is that wrongful dismissal is an absolute right that an employee is entitled to, regardless of what their agreement says. Under normal circumstances, an employer cannot dismiss someone purely because they don’t like their attitude, or if they don’t like the way they look, or because they think that person is less efficient than another. However, under certain circumstances an employer can dismiss an employee for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to: ill health, bad record, long working hours, absence for just cause, disciplinary problems, and just bad luck.
There is usually a time limit put in place when it comes to making a wrongful dismissal claims. In England and Wales, this time limit is normally three months. In the rest of the UK, the time limit is usually three months. If your claim for unfair dismissal goes beyond the three month time limit, then the Employment Tribunal will have to look at the matter again.
Employment Law – Who Has Been Fired As a Reason for Wrongful Discharge?
Another important issue to note when looking at wrongful dismissal claims is that it is important to remember that the employer is always within their rights to request that you show them why the break up is right. In order for this to happen, the employer needs to provide you with a proper written notice of breach. This must state clearly that you breached the contract, or a fair contract to work, and that you were given enough notice to allow you to rectify the breach. If the breach goes beyond this, then you may be able to claim redundancy pay, or even compensation for other injuries you have suffered during your employment.
The employer has three months less to show why your dismissal was unfair. The reason for this is that this is considered to be a constructive dismissal, which means that you have been unfairly dismissed from your job. If this happens, then you need to show the tribunal that the employer failed to make clear their intention to dismiss you in a fair manner, so as to prove that you did indeed breach the contract. You will be allowed three months less to file for an unfair dismissal claim if the employer fails to make this clear.
Compensation for workers who have been unfairly dismissed is actually quite low, usually no more than a few hundred pounds, but it can increase or decrease according to many factors. Common reasons why workers are compensated include health and safety concerns, but some employers will use the threat of dismissal as a way to get out of paying compensation claims altogether. For example, if you report bad working conditions to your employer and they do not improve them, then you could be terminated. If you then try to claim for unfair dismissal claims against them, they will simply point out that your complaint is unfounded, and that you were, in fact, being discriminatory by reporting the poor conditions at work.
