About employment termination

Employment termination can happen for a variety of reasons. Your employer could make you redundant, or sack you for another reason. If your employment termination is because of redundancy, employment law states that your employer must consult you before relieving you of your duties.

Redundancy consultations can either be on an individual basis or collectively if a number of people are going to be made redundant together. Note that only ‘employees’ are included in these employment rules. If you are an agency worker or work on a freelance basis for a company, your employer does not have to consult you before issuing an employment termination.

If you are a member of a trade union, they will usually represent you and your colleagues if a collective redundancy is going to take place. If the employment termination is just for you alone, contacting a solicitor with expertise in employment law to represent you could be advantageous, especially if you think your employer has not acted within employment law.

Your employer must speak to you directly about your employment termination and also offer you any alternatives. If they do not, this could be considered unfair dismissal. If this is the case, you could potentially take your employer to an employment tribunal. If you do decide on this course of action, an employment solicitor is vitally important, as employment law can be highly complex and open to interpretation.

Also, any consultation with you about your employment termination should start in good time to give you and your representative time to consider your case and the conditions of your dismissal. Failure to begin the consultation process early enough could again be considered unlawful under employment regulations. If you are given notice of an employment termination, don’t panic, as you have time and employment law on your side. Consult your union representative or an employment solicitor as soon as you can.

If you would like to obtain legal advice about workers’ rights, Contact Law can put you in touch with a local specialist employment law solicitor free of charge. So, if you have any questions or would like our help in finding local employment law solicitors please call us on 0800 1777 162 or complete the web-form above.

Last Updated on 23/11/2011