Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Dismissal definition

What does Dismissal mean? Dismissal describes the termination of employment by the employer. In practice it covers termination with notice, summary termination for alleged gross misconduct, expiry and non-renewal of a fixed-term contract, and resignations treated at law as constructive dismissal. In England & Wales and Scotland, the Employment Rights Act 1996 defines when an employee is dismissed for unfair dismissal purposes; the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 contains materially similar provisions. In Ireland, the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977–2015 define dismissal, including constructive dismissal. The classification of an exit as a dismissal determines available statutory and contractual claims, including unfair dismissal, wrongful...

Conduct dismissals: law, procedure and case law under ERA 1996 and the Acas Code (Great Britain)

Published by a LexisNexis Employment expert

Practice notes

Conduct can amount to a potentially fair basis for Dismissal in law. Dismissals arising from Misconduct are likely the most common type of Unfair dismissal claim brought before the employment tribunal.

The behaviour need not have any particular quality or label. It does not have to be ‘reprehensible’ or even ‘culpable’ to be a potentially fair reason, although the claimant’s degree of blame may matter when deciding if dismissal was a fair sanction in all the circumstances and when determining compensation; see: Appropriateness of dismissal: general below and Practice Note: The unfair dismissal Compensatory award—Contributory fault for guidance.

Dismissal for a one-off act of misconduct will seldom be fair, though in some situations the incident will be serious enough to warrant dismissal for a first offence. As a rule, dismissal for misconduct will only be a reasonable penalty if the employee has committed earlier misconduct and been warned in advance that further incidents could lead to dismissal.

Refusal to comply with instructions

An employee is generally obliged to follow lawful and reasonable instructions issued by their employer at work...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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