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Dismissal: the process is the case
When an employer is taken to the National Industrial Court over a dismissal, the question the court spends most of its time on is usually not whether the employee did the thing alleged. It is whether the employer can show, on paper, that it followed a procedure before acting.
That is uncomfortable for an employer with a genuinely bad employee. It is also the reason a dismissal handled over a week costs far less than one handled over an afternoon.
The four steps that decide it
- A written allegation, put to the employee. "We have decided to let you go" is not an allegation. The employee must know what they are said to have done, in enough detail to answer it.
- A hearing, with the right to respond. A meeting where the employee is heard, may bring a representative if your handbook allows it, and is not simply informed of a decision already taken. Minutes, signed or at least circulated, are the evidence that it happened.
- A decision by someone with authority. The person who decides should be identified in the record, and should not be the person who conducted the investigation if the same person can be avoided.
- A written outcome with the reason and the effective date. Terminal benefits, notice or pay in lieu, and the return of property belong in that letter.
Why the record matters more than the reason
A court cannot hear a meeting that left no minutes. If the employer's file contains only the termination letter, the employer is asking the court to accept that everything before it happened, on the strength of a document that says none of it. Where the employee's account fills that silence, the silence starts to look like an admission.
A fair reason with no record is, in practice, a procedurally unfair dismissal.
What to do before the next one
Check the handbook actually describes a procedure, then follow the handbook you have. If it describes one you do not follow, amend the handbook rather than ignore it — a documented process the employer visibly disregards is worse than a short one it follows. Keep the allegation letter, the invitation, the minutes and the outcome in one file per employee, because that file is the case.
Where this advice does not apply
Summary dismissal for gross misconduct, and termination during a probation period, each raise separate questions about notice and process. The four steps above are the general shape, not a substitute for reading the contract and the handbook for the particular employment.
This note is general information, not legal advice. It does not create a solicitor–client relationship and it may not reflect the law as it stands when you read it. For a matter of your own, send an enquiry.