Is this your problem?

I need to sack one of my employees...

If you have a legitimate reason, follow the correct procedures and treat the person fairly, dismissal shouldn't cause you problems.

Your priority is to ensure that you obey the law. Disciplinary warning and dismissal procedures are now compulsory legal processes. If you don't follow them step by step you leave yourself open to expensive legal action.

Both set procedures have been law since 2004. By now you should have given your employees details of your disciplinary and grievance (D&G) and dismissal rules. They should hold this either in an initial job offer letter or as part of their employment contract.

In addition to the procedures, the law says you must act reasonably while going through the dismissal process and before dismissal becomes inevitable. Employment tribunals judge cases on whether set procedures have been met and on how reasonably the employee has been treated.

First, talk the problems through informally with the employee. If this doesn't work, you must follow the set D&G warning procedure. Give the employee clear information about the consequences if there is no improvement (such as penalties or dismissal). Issue a written warning detailing your concerns and, if nothing changes, send a final written warning. If in doubt at this stage, ring the free Acas helpline where an adviser will tell you how to proceed using their code of practice, the benchmark procedure used by tribunals.

If matters do not improve, you need to make sure you have sufficient reason for dismissal. Legally, there are five valid reasons for dismissing employees:
  • conduct (when an employee contravenes your disciplinary regulations; misconduct is the most common reason for dismissal)
  • ability (when an employee is unable to do his or her job satisfactorily)
  • redundancy (when you have no or insufficient work for the employee to do)
  • a statutory requirement (such as a truck driver losing his licence)
  • another substantial reason not covered by the four reasons above
For most employees, you now have to follow the three-step dismissal procedure:

1. Put it in writing.
Send the employee a written explanation of the conduct, capability or other circumstances that have led you to think about taking dismissal or disciplinary action against them.

2. Meet and discuss.
Invite the employee to a meeting in a reasonable place at a suitable time to discuss the issue. After the meeting, inform the employee of your decision and offer them the right to appeal.

3. Appeal.
If the employee wants to appeal, they must tell you. Invite them to a second meeting to discuss the appeal. Give the employee your final decision after the meeting.

If you don't follow the three-step procedure, an employment tribunal will judge the dismissal automatically unfair and you will have to pay the employee a penalty of at least one month's wages plus any compensation. There is a two-step dismissal procedure (write to the employee, then offer them grounds for appeal without meeting) that you can follow in some cases of gross misconduct, but this is not to be used without express legal advice or consulting Acas.