Employees who have two or more consecutive years service with their employer should not be dismissed without a fair reason and a fair procedure being followed. The main categories to show a fair reason for dismissal are conduct, performance, capability, redundancy, business reorganisation or some other substantial reason. However, just because an employer has a fair reason, they still need to go through a procedure, such as a disciplinary hearing, or performance management process. Employees with less than two years of service can risk being dismissed without a fair reason or fair procedure. Unless the reason for dismissal is an automatic one, they will not be able to claim ordinary unfair dismissal. Discrimination may or may not come into play so contact us to discuss further.