It’s not all or nothing…
by Philip
It’s quite difficult sometimes for clients to appreciate that if an employee wins a case of unfair dismissal, it is not a case of winner takes all. The tribunal system is not binary. If a claim of unfair dismissal succeeds, there is a whole range of awards that can be made from zero through to the maximum of £60k, and all points in between.
Tribunals, in the main, can reduce compensation on three grounds: if the dismissal would have occurred in any event, if the employee contributed to their dismissal, or if the employee failed to appeal.
In this case the dismissal was unfair as the employer had failed to tell the employee of their right of appeal. However the Tribunal found that had an appeal been heard then the employee would still have been dismissed as the internal appeal would have failed.
The compensatory award was therefore £0.00. The theoretical liability facing the employer was £60k but the actual result was £o. You can sometimes be better off as an employer, fighting and losing, rather than settling.
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