getting fired in the UK

From a continental European point of vue, British employees are underprotected. Easy hire, but equally easy dismissal, low pay okay, many precarious service related excuses for a job. I am not saying this is the factual truth, I am saying it is what can often be heard or read in certain European newspapers. It is said this contributes to the fluidity and success of the British economy. I don't know, but if it is true it sure must make the employers happy.

Edouard S.

And in most US states, we are 'employed at will' - either employer or employee can sever the relationship, usually with 2 weeks notice.

Boy, I love the 'free market'.

Regards.

Phil

Precarious employment conditions can be detrimental to consumer confidence - which may in turn be harmful to a stable economy that usually depends on buoyant domestic consumer spending.

For this reason I support changes made by our government to employment legislation. It serves as a reminder as to why I voted for them in the first place back in 1997.

Regards,

Steve.

Thanks for the replies - but do I win the fiver?!!

Is an employee entitled to any advance warning that dismissal is going to take place in the first 12 months (e.g. verbal or written warning if performance is an issue). I dont't thing the employee has any rights to consultation and Tom's link seems to verify this.

cheers

Ross

Ross

You are correct in that there is no statutory requirement to issue oral or written warnings in the circumstances described.

A contract of employment might however place contractual requirements on an employer to do so.

Access to unfair or wrongful dismissal legislation is a separate question.

cheers

Nigel

There are two principal relevant regimes: statutory (unfair dismissal and redundancy) and what the employment agreement says, subject to statutory minimum requirements (wrongful dismissal). You also have to distinguish the reason for dismissal – i.e. for misconduct, redundancy etc.

AFAICR, the position is as follows:

The statutory remedies apply whatever the contract says and are available after 12 months of continuous employment (any statutory or contractual period of notice should be counted even if not given or served). There is no minimum period for unfair dismissal claims based on sex, maternity, union membership or racial discrimination which are automatically unfair. There are other reasons in this category listed in Tom A’s DTI link.

The contractual remedies are available from the start of the contract, but of course depend on what is written. In the case of dismissal, the contract will specify that it can only be terminated for cause (misconduct etc) or on a specified period of notice. In practice, this permits immediate termination with payment of the wages that would have been paid had the employee worked his or her notice.

Unlike the States, there are statutory minimum requirements for terms of employment which will supercede the contractual provisions if the latter are less generous to the employee. Key among these are minimum length of notice. This depends on length of service: one week from the start of employment, two weeks after a year and so on up to a maximum of twelve weeks.

In practice, most claims for dismissal will have both a statutory and contractual basis. As a rule, the greater opportunity an employee has to negotiate his or her contract, the more he or she will rely on contractual protections. Those with the least negotiating power (i.e. the lowest paid in the most menial jobs) will tend to have to rely on the statutory protections – if they know about them and have the means to pursue them.

The duty to consult, if I remember correctly, applies in the case of dismissal by reason of redundancy but is dependant on the number of employees in the business.

Edouard is right to say that the UK employee protections are generally less stringent than those elsewhere in the EU, which a good Tory like Gordon Brown would say has contributed to the UK’s more flexible labour market, higher employment and more dynamic economy than in, say, France or Germany. See the Daily Mail or Mick Parry for more detail.

FWIW

Timo

quote:

---

And in most US states, we are 'employed at will' - either employer or employee can sever the relationship, usually with 2 weeks notice.

Boy, I love the 'free market'.

Regards.

Phil

---

Phil I bet you would not love it so much if you did get fired and could not find another job.

In the USA you really would be in trouble if that was the case.

Regards
Mark

Whils't playing with my AM knob in bed last night post copious quantities of the
old horizontal lubricant, I happened upon the good old "Voice of Russia," radio
station (as you do) and one certain gentleman speaking on this and that, sounded
uncannilly similar to Alisdaire Cooke, could this possibly be Mr Boris Johnson
earning a rubel or five on the QT, I think we should be told ?

Fritz Von Andnowit'sovertovalwiththismonthsjokesewctionhahahaha,inni´t


Check it out sometime (If you already havent) it's incredibly funny in a sad
kind of way, as are speckled taters, innit.