Unfair dismissal: a further meeting may be pointless (News, 4 December 2012)

Article summary

Once a potentially fair reason for dismissal has been established, the employer need only have followed a procedure that was fair in all the circumstances of the case in order to defeat a claim of unfair dismissal. Depending on those circumstances, fair procedure will not always require the employer to hold a further meeting to discuss matters with the employee before dismissing him (although in most cases such a meeting will be essential). For example, where an employee on sick leave had already informed the employer at a meeting that he would not be returning to work as he considered that his relationship with his employer 'was broken', it was not incumbent on the employer to hold a further meeting with the employee before dismissing him, to give him an opportunity to put forward his position, because (a) the employee had already done so and (b) holding a further meeting would in the circumstances achieve nothing and be a meaningless...