statutory dismissal procedures and the consequences of delays

Failure to follow and complete the statutory disciplinary and dismissal procedures (“SDDP”) when dismissing an employee will render the dismissal automatically unfair and would result in the compensation awarded by an Employment Tribunal being uplifted by between 10% and 50%.

In Yorkshire Housing v Swanson the Employment Appeals Tribunal found that an unreasonable delay in completing the SDDP would render a dismissal automatically unfair. The employer had completed the SDDP, but had then taken 5 months to communicate the outcome of the disciplinary meeting to the employee by letter. This delay rendered the dismissal automatically unfair due to the unreasonably long delay between the meeting and the employee receiving the dismissal letter.