Employment Law in Practice
Breach of employment right(s)
The first step - has the employer breached your employment right?
The first step in an employment claim is to establish if the employer has breached an employment right, but without evidence at the initial stages of consulting an employment solicitor, the claim is already problematic. As employment law is complex, you should always speak to an employment solicitor to unravel what are the likely issues and what facts would be relevant to support a claim.
Employers generally have five valid reasons that can be used to fairly dismiss an employee:-
- Misconduct;
- Incapability (through incompetence or ill health)
- Redundancy
- Contravention of Statute
- Or another substantial reason
Clearly, the reason the employer has given you might not be able to be substantiated and this can lead to an employment claim. However, with one of these reasons the employer has a prima facie defence. You should consider whether there are other reasons behind the employer's apparent reason - for example, you may feel that the real reason for your dismissal is pregnancy related, or because you have complained about unlawful behaviour and discrimination.