An individual’s period of employment with your company may come to an end for a variety of reasons. They may resign claiming constructive dismissal, suffer from ill-health, choose to retire or you may need to dismiss them.

If you are considering dismissing an employee, it is important that you understand the grounds for potentially fairly dismissing someone under employment legislation and the process you need to follow in any given situation, such as when dealing with misconduct, capability, ill-health, poor performance or redundancy. By complying with employment law and following a fair dismissal procedure, you also ensure you minimise the risk of ending up in a costly employment tribunal for unfair dismissal.

In most cases employees have to have two years’ service before they can bring a claim of unfair dismissal but there are a number of situations where this is not required, for example whistleblowing, health and safety, family rights and discrimination.  As such, it is important that you take all this into account before terminating their employment.

If the employee is not being dismissed but employment is being terminated for another reason, there are different options open to you, as an employer, including protected conversations and  negotiated settlement agreements to help ensure a smooth departure for both the employee and the business.