Regardless of the seriousness of what an employee has done, it is extremely unwise to simply summarily dismiss them on the spot. Even if an employee is guilty of the misconduct, he or she will still have an unfair dismissal claim if a proper procedure is not followed.

If an employee has done something very seriously wrong, and you need to get them off the premises immediately, the proper course of action is to suspend them. This has to be on full pay unless there is a provision in their contract to the contrary.

You will need to investigate the matter thoroughly, taking care to ensure that you look at both sides of the issue and not just for things the employee has done wrong.

You are required to give the employee in writing details of what he or she is alleged to have done wrong, and send all the evidence you have colleted to the employee.

Once the employee has had enough time to study the evidence, you will then need to invite the employee to a disciplinary hearing to discuss the matter. The employee is entitled to be represented by a work colleague or a trade union representative (even if you do not recognise a union). The employee is entitled to present his case fully at the hearing.

After the hearing you will have to decide on the appropriate level of sanction.  The course of action is to give an employee a series of warnings, a typical disciplinary procedure provides for a verbal, written and final written warning before dismissal. Only in cases of gross misconduct will dismissal for a first offence be permissible: what constitutes gross misconduct depends on the circumstances involved, and you may have to take advice on this if you are unsure.

Employees who are dissatisfied with the outcome of a disciplinary hearing should be given the right to appeal to a higher level of management.

It is important to deal with any complaints quickly and thoroughly to avoid the matter escalating.

If the employee has not already done so, ask him or her to put the complaint in writing and set it to you, together with any evidence he or she has.

You should then invite the employee to a meeting to discuss the matter, and get all the details of exactly what the employee is complaining about.

Do not make a decision at this stage, but tell the employee you will get back to them, and then thoroughly investigate the complaint. Make sure you know exactly what has happened and what the issues are, and exactly where you stand, taking professional advice as applicable. If necessary call the employee for a further meeting to discuss what you have uncovered.

Once you know exactly what has happened, set out in writing your findings and what you have uncovered, and what action and send this to the employee; it can be helpful to bring the employee in for a further meeting to explain your findings.

Employees who are dissatisfied with the outcome should be given the right to appeal to a higher level of management.

Staff made redundant are considered to have been dismissed in law, and if the redundancy was unfair or a proper procedure is not followed, then they can claim unfair dismissal.

You cannot make a staff member redundant as an alternative to a disciplinary or poor performance procedure, or because he or she is unsuitable for the job or no longer fits in with how you envisage the job progressing: if you do so then you will be in danger of an unfair dismissal claim.

No matter how few staff you are making redundant there is an obligation to consult with the staff concerned. There are statutory minimum consultation periods if twenty or more staff are being made redundant, but if fewer staff are being made redundant you still have to consult with them sufficiently: there is just no set minimum time period. If twenty or more staff are being made redundant then unions or elected staff representatives have to be consulted with, otherwise staff may be consulted on an individual basis.

As a minimum you are required to write to the staff members concerned and inform them that redundancies are being considered and why, and meet with them to discuss it before taking a decision to make them redundant.

You are not allowed to simply pick which staff members are to be selected for redundancy: you must have a fair and objective method of selecting which staff are to be made redundant, and must consult with staff as to how those to be made redundant are to be selected before any decision is taken.

You are obliged to make every effort to find alternative positions for redundant staff.

Any staff made redundant have a right to appeal against this decision to a higher level of management.

If a part of an undertaking is sold or transferred the staff employed in it become the employees of the transferee, who is obliged to honour all their terms and conditions of employment, and takes over any liabilities to the employees.

Any member of staff dismissed because of the transfer is automatically counted as unfairly dismissed, unless it can be shown that it was because changes in the workforce were required due to economic, technical or organisational reasons. The transferee would be liable for any such claims.

There is a legal requirement to provide information about the transfer to employee representatives, either the union if one is recognised, or elected representatives is not, and they must be consulted about any proposed changes due to the transfer.

If the transferor fails to meet its obligations to the employees, the liability is on the transferee, so it is strongly recommended that the transferee takes great care in purchasing a business, getting the appropriate indemnities from the transferor and making sure these obligations have been complied with.

It is a legal requirement that all employees are provided with written terms and conditions. It is possible to draft these oneself, or purchase an "off the peg? set, but this can cause difficulties for employers.

All sorts of disputes can arise without a properly drafted contract,

• When can I stop paying sick pay?
• How do I calculate holiday pay on leaving?
• How is salary calculated if employment terminates part way through the month?
• What if I want to relocate an employee, or change their hours or duties or how they are paid?
• Can I recover my costs if an employee leaves right after I have paid for his or her training?
• What if an employee has set up his own business in his own time?
• How can I protect my confidential information or prevent an employee taking my customers if he or she leaves?

All these issues can be provided for if employee's contracts are properly set out.

It is now a legal requirement that all employees are provided with written disciplinary and grievance procedures, regardless of the size of your business: failure to do so allows employees to complain to an Employment Tribunal.

There are also now legally-required statutory dismissal, disciplinary and grievance procedures, which are binding on all employers, and it is vital that businesses' disciplinary and grievance procedures confirm to the new rules.

Farleys are able to provide you with a full set of disciplinary and grievance procedures, tailor made for your business needs and conforming to the statutory requirements. We can also advise and assist you in implementing any new terms and conditions required.

We can provide training on all employment law matters including,

• Disciplining and dismissing staff.
• Dealing with staff complaints.
• Absence management.
• Redundancy handling.
• Transfer of undertakings.
• Discrimination law.
• Giving evidence in Employment Tribunals.

You have 28 days to return the Response Form. If you do not return the Response Form then you will be bared from defending the claim and judgement will be entered for the employee without you being allowed to dispute what he or she is saying. It is important that the Response Form is completed thoroughly and accurately, as you may not be allowed to raise defences at any hearing that were not included in the Response Form, and if you change your mind later or contradict what was said in the form, this will severely prejudice your case.

Once the Response Form is filled in, there is a six-week period in which the case is put on hold whilst ACAS tries to reach a settlement between the parties; it is well worth trying to do so as effective negotiation at this point can often reduce the amount claimed by employees to well below what was originally claimed, or what might be awarded by the Tribunal.

If negotiations are unsuccessful, the Tribunal will notify you of a date for a hearing to resolve the issue.
The usual course of events is for, prior to the hearing, each side to send to each other all the papers, contracts, letters and other evidence that they intend to use in the case, each side to prepare witness statements as to what any witnesses they intend to call will say, and for a single, numbered folder of papers to be prepared containing all the papers that are needed for the case.

The hearing itself will usually last anything from one or two days for straightforward matters, to several weeks for large, complicated matters.

Each side will bring forward its witnesses (who will then be questioned by the other side and the Tribunal) and any other evidence on which they wish to rely, and present any arguments that they have.

The Tribunal will then make their decision.  They will usually firstly decide whether the employee has made their case, and if he has, then hear any further evidence on how much compensation he or she is due before deciding this.
Tribunal decisions can be appealed to the Employment Appeals Tribunal, but only if it can be shown that the Tribunal has made an error in its understanding of the law, not because you disagree with its decision.