The minimum legal period of notice for dismissed employees is dependent on the number of years of service.
If the employee has been employed for more than a month, but less than two years, they are entitled to at least one weeks notice.
If the employee has been employed for two years, they are entitled to at least two weeks notice.
If an employee has been employed for more than two years, but less than twelve years, they are entitled to at least one weeks notice for every year of continuous service.
If an employee has been employed for twelve or more years, they are entitled to at least twelve weeks notice.
If the employee’s contract states a different period of notice to the legal minimum, then whichever is the longest applies.
In cases of serious gross misconduct, it is usually legal to dismiss an employee without notice; however caution should always be taken, as this can leave you open to an unfair dismissal claim should the allegations against the employee prove false or not qualify as adequate grounds for dismissal.
Employees with more than a year’s continuous service have the right to receive a written statement of the reasons for their dismissal if requested.
Redundancy Notice
The minimum notice period for redundant employees is the same as those for dismissed employees. However, in cases of collective redundancy, there are additional consultation periods that must be allowed for:
If a business makes, or proposes, more than 19 redundancies within a 90 day period, it is called a collective redundancy. (Although this situation is unlikely for small business, it does still occur.) In these cases you must contact and consult with appropriate employee representatives (e.g.: relevant union official) who may be affected, as well as notifying the Department of Trade and Industry of the proposed dismissals. Otherwise you could be open to unfair dismissal claims.
Consultation is legally required to start at least thirty days before any dismissals are made, unless there are one hundred or more redundancies, in which case the consultation should be at least ninety days before dismissals.
Fixed Contracts
In the cases of fixed employment contracts, when they are due to end on a set date, there is no need for any notice if the contract ends on that date. If, however employment is to end before the expiry of the contract, then the standard period of notice is due.
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