As an employer, when you employ staff to do a job in your business, you often have an employment contract between you and your employee stating employment terms. This legal agreement sets out your worker’s responsibilities and legal rights in your employment and your legal obligations as an employer. Your employee’s contract may also detail rules concerning ending the employment relationship, such as the notice needed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are also legal requirements regarding the termination of employment contracts relating to the notice period and statutory redundancy pay. There are points you should avoid when terminating a contract, such as not having a fair reason or not following a fair procedure which could mean ending the contract will not be a fair dismissal. Ending employment contracts could, therefore, result in an employment tribunal for an employment claim such as unfair or wrongful dismissal. This article will explain some points you should avoid when ending employment contracts in England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you end your employee\u2019s employment contract through dismissal or redundancy, your employee will typically need to continue working for their notice period before leaving their job. The notice period may vary depending on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You must ensure that you avoid getting your employee\u2019s notice period wrong as your employee has legal rights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, if your employee has worked for you for at least one month and less than two years and is legally an employee, you must give them at least one week of notice. Also, if you are making your employee redundant, you cannot provide them with redundancy notice until you have completed your full consultation and selection process.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
If you decide to dismiss an employee, you must ensure that you dismiss them fairly to avoid unfair dismissal. An unfair dismissal claim at an employment tribunal<\/a> is costly in terms of time, financial compensation and your reputation as an employer<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are three main points you must ensure are correct to avoid unfair dismissal, and these are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n