What are the 5 Fair Reasons for Dismissal?

The workplace is filled with ups and downs. Today, you could be hiring a new employee, and tomorrow, you might have to let one go. But the latter requires a careful approach so your reasons for termination can be considered fair reasons for dismissal. 

Before dismissing an employee, employers and HR should go over their company’s policies to ensure they are doing the right thing. Further investigation is required if the case seems unclear. To further assist HR in making better decisions, we have compiled this article. 

This article looks at why it is important to have fair reasons for dismissal and what some of these fair dismissal examples are. 

Why consider reasons for a fair dismissal of an employee? 

Dismissing an employee is bound to happen, and it’s oftentimes very necessary too. But the problem with this is that employers find it hard to determine what type of dismissal could be considered fair or unfair. Because they fail to realize this, they end up with many court cases and lose a lot of money to that effect. In cases of unfair dismissal, a company will most likely lose the case to an employee. This is why it is necessary to ponder what the fair reasons for dismissal are. 

What are the fair reasons for dismissal of an employee? 

To prevent minimal-to-serious court cases, it’s necessary to understand what reasons are considered fair dismissal examples and when it could seem right to let go of an employee. These include:

1. Conduct/Misconduct: Misbehavior in the workplace could be less or more serious, depending on how your company views it. You’ll also need to go over state and federal laws to ensure your company’s policies align. Here are some examples that could serve as reasons for a fair dismissal of an employee:

• Stealing the company’s properties consistently. 
• Consistent late arrival to work. 
• Bullying or discriminating against other employees
• Participating in fraud.

2. Redundancy: One of the fair reasons for dismissal of an employee could be redundancy. Redundancy is usually due to no fault of the employee; rather, it concerns the organization. However, it might be considered unfair if an employer does not take the right measures in letting such employees go. Some fair dismissal examples under this reason include:

• The organization is restructuring, so certain offices are no longer needed. 
• The organization is shutting down. 
• If the amount of work is less than the number of workers available, laying off staff could be the next step. 
• If the organization needs to move to a different location. 
• If the organization is having serious financial issues.

3. Capability/Performance: One of the good reasons for dismissal of an employee can be based on their capability and performance. Capability here refers to an employee’s health condition affecting their performance at work. While some employees can still do their jobs well even with a health condition, others are unable to keep up. For such a reason, an employer can dismiss an employee after giving them reasonable time to recover, offering their support, considering other viable options, and understanding the health condition from a doctor’s perspective. On the topic of performance, an employer can decide to dismiss an employee if they are not meeting requirements based on their performance. This should be done after the proper performance management process has been taken.

4. Statutory Illegality/Breach of a Statutory Restriction: One of the reasons for a fair dismissal of an employee could also be the result of legal action. This could be in the case of an employee who is not authorized to work in a state or an employee losing their license to perform a particular task like driving. Ensure that the right procedures are followed before dismissing the employee.

5. Some Other Substantial Reason (SOSR): This reason for dismissal is often the last resort if your employee hasn’t violated any of the ones listed above. Some of these fair dismissal examples include: 

• A serious conflict of interest. 
• An ended contract. 
• There is no more work to take on. 
• Difficulty in agreeing with each other (employee and employee) could be in regards to new terms and conditions. 

Conclusion 

Before you decide to let an employee go, it’s a good idea to go over what the fair reasons for dismissal could be. This will help prevent future problems from occurring and destroying your business’s image. 

The post What are the 5 Fair Reasons for Dismissal? appeared first on The HR Digest.

Source: New feed