A dismissal usually occurs when an employer terminates an employee's contract of employment. A dismissal will normally be considered fair if the employer can show that it is related to:
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the employee’s misconduct (eg theft, poor attendance, or violence)
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the employee’s lack of capability (ie poor performance) or qualifications
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a genuine redundancy
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a statutory requirement (eg if an employee’s role requires them to drive but they’ve had their driving licence revoked)
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some other substantial reason (eg the employee unreasonably refuses to accept changes to their terms of employment)
If the reason for dismissal doesn’t fall under one of the above categories, the dismissal could potentially be considered unfair. There are some situations where dismissing an employee is automatically unfair.