Conservative chairman’s comments on dismissal divide employment law experts
Controversial comments from Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps – who claimed managers have to resort to “disingenuous” reasons to dismiss under-performing staff – have reignited a long-running debate about whether UK employment law is too stringent around sackings.
Shapps claimed that businesses should be granted more power “to say ‘thank you very much, it has not worked out; here is a decent package to move on from this role’” and alluded to a loosening of the rules if his party won the next election.
The TUC said the comments should make staff feel “ very afraid”, while the Labour Party asked for reassurances Shapps had never broken employment law in his role as owner of a printing company. But does he have a point?
“It’s undoubtedly harder [to fire people]. There’s stacks of opportunity for reform,” says barrister Kate Russell. of Russell HR Consulting. citing a case in which she was involved. “A client who’d already issued two warnings to a member of staff for persistent lateness was then late again – and technically able to be dismissed. I was asked what they should do because he was late by only four minutes.
"He still hadn’t phoned, or offered any apology, and the client would have been well within their rights, but they just knew that if he’d been sacked, they’d face an employment tribunal for being heavy-handed.”
The letter of the law says valid reasons for dismissing staff include capability or conduct, redundancy, or issues that prevent someone working (such as losing a driving licence). But because British law says dismissing people must also be "fair" – and that dismissal is only fair if employers act "reasonably" (of which there is no actual legal definition), Russell says there’s too little employer protection. “Despite new rules forcing employees to pay to bring a tribunal, I still think employers will think twice about actually firing someone, because they’ll wonder if it’s worth it.”
Managers can dismiss instantly without notice or pay in lieu, but only if a contract allows it. Jackie Turner, partner at law firm Watson Burson, says if contracts are tight, employers have nothing to fear. She also disagrees that the system has made sacking staff harder:
“Government has taken huge steps recently, especially with legislation to lengthen the unfair dismissal period from one year to two. Fair procedure only kicks in after this – an employer can follow any procedure and give any reason to sack someone up to that point.”
She adds: “It may still provoke a tribunal, but as long as employers have not sacked someone where there are potential alarm bells – such as them nearing what was retirement age – the employer can still act with confidence.”