What are the 5 potentially fair reasons for dismissal?
John Hall
Updated on March 20, 2026
5 Fair Reasons for Dismissal
- Conduct/Misconduct. Minor issues of conduct/misconduct such as poor timekeeping can usually be handled by speaking informally to the employee.
- Capability/Performance.
- Redundancy.
- Statutory illegality or breach of a statutory restriction.
- Some Other Substantial Reason (SOSR)
What are reasonable grounds for dismissal?
Capability or qualifications for the job. Redundancy. Illegality. Some other substantial reason of a kind which justifies your dismissal.
What are the automatically unfair reasons for dismissal?
Automatically unfair reasons
- being pregnant or on maternity leave.
- wanting to take family leave, for example parental, paternity or adoption leave.
- being a trade union member or representative.
- asking for a legal right, for example to be paid the National Minimum Wage.
- doing jury service.
- being involved in whistleblowing.
What are the four major grounds for dismissal?
The “causes” that are grounds for dismissal run the gamut including: illegal activity such as stealing or revealing trade secrets, dishonesty, breaking company rules, harassing or disrupting other workers, insubordination, excessive unexcused absences, and poor job performance by some objective measure.
Do employers have to prove gross misconduct?
Your employer doesn’t have to prove that you did commit the misconduct they accused you of – only that based on the evidence they had it was reasonable for them to believe that you did.
Can I be sacked during lockdown?
During the COVID-19 pandemic, some employers may dismiss employees by reason of ‘redundancy’, ‘conduct’ or ‘some other substantial reason’.
What is automatically unfair?
Automatic unfair dismissal is a term used to describe certain situations where an employee was dismissed for a specific reason which is protected by legislation. Some examples of automatically unfair dismissals are dismissals relating to: asserting a statutory right. maternity/paternity leave. parental/adoption leave.
