Can he be sacked?

Question

My dad has been sacked.. he started a job and then after 4/5 wks he had to go off sick due to an injury.. (he's 65 on Saturday). he notified them etc.and went back when he was better.. but when he returned he got sacked.. the crap manager has already replaced him where does he stand?

Answer 1

If you are in the UK, then your dad does have rights, even if he has been employed for a short time. There is no such thing in law as probationary periods and so on. In order to dismiss someone, the employer has to have a reason and even if there is a good reason, the employer has to go through a certain procedure (which Roland has outlined above). It sounds as if he was not dismissed whilst off sick, but rather when he returned, so sickness doesnt seem to be a valid reason in this case. If the employer fails to go through the procedure, your dad can take them to an ET, even if the reason for the dismissal was valid.
Suggest he rings the ACAs helpline - they are v good.
08457 47 47 47

Answer 2

Unfortunately you can be sacked for being sick. If you can not work then you are in breach of contract of employment.

Here is a review from Business Link.
Ending employment because sickness or absence is impacting your business does not mean that you are making any judgement on the employee's honesty or commitment. However, you must still follow the correct procedure to ensure employer and employee rights are observed.

You must write to the employee informing him/her why and when you propose to end their employment.

You must schedule a meeting with the employee to confirm that his/her employment is ending and advise him/her of the date and time. It's essential that you:

give the employee reasonable notice
arrange the meeting at a reasonable time and location


Before the meeting takes place, you should also:

advise the employee that he/she is entitled to be accompanied at the meeting
provide the employee and/or his/her representative with copies of any documents or other materials you intend to use as far in advance of the meeting as possible


The employee is entitled to ask for the meeting to be rescheduled if unforeseeable circumstances arise after the meeting has been arranged. You are only required to reschedule the meeting once. If the employee does not attend the rescheduled meeting you may end the employment without further consultation with the employee.

At the meeting you will explain why and when you are proposing to end the employment and listen to any questions or objections the employee has.

After the meeting you must confirm your decision to the employee in writing. Even if the employee accepts the end of his/her employment, he/she may still appeal against this at any time before the employment actually ends. You must inform the employee of this right to appeal.

If the employee decides to appeal, the appeal is heard at a separate meeting, usually by a more senior person not involved in the initial meeting. If, however, you have to hear the appeal yourself, you must make every effort to be impartial and consider the fairness of the previous decision.

If you and/or the employee want the appeal to be heard by an independent person, Acas may be able to help with this (or, in Northern Ireland, the Labour Relations Agency).

As with the initial meeting, you must inform the employee of:

the date, time and location of the appeal meeting
that he/she is entitled to be accompanied


The employee is entitled to ask for the appeal meeting to be rescheduled if unforeseeable circumstances arise after the meeting has been arranged. You are only required to reschedule the meeting once. If the employee does not attend the rescheduled meeting there is no further right of appeal in the statutory procedure.

If the employee does not appeal, or appeals and is unsuccessful, you may end the employment as proposed.

Answer 3

He should definitely seek advice.

If he was still in a probation period when he got sacked, then don't think he will be able to do anything. If his probation period had ended when he got the sack then he may be able to do something. If there is no mention of a probation period in his contract then he may be able to do something.

However employers seem to be able to do what the hell they want in the first two years! After that they have to pay you some redundancy.

Answer 4

If he had been there for over there a year then your father would have an argument. But only 4-5 weeks he hasn't a leg to stand on. This happens a lot and its sad. This happened to me before and i tried to fight it and lost.
Sorry about your fathers loss and hope he finds a job soon!! Good luck. :0

Answer 5

Without a job as in 4/5 weeks he has no rights. They can hire and fire as they can say that he was not up to the job.Rights seem to kick in after 2 years.

Answer 6

At 65 - he really should be taking it easy at his time of life.....I would advise him to forget about returning to work... but yes go ahead and try for unfair dismissal - if he was off sick and filled out the appropriate forms ( self certiicate/Doctors line etc..) if you are off Sick - you cant help it ...well in the UK at least .. nothing ventured nothing gained..&.try and get a few quid ...

Answer 7

It depends if he was paid by salary or a wage. Wages are cash in hand off the books and salaries are contracts if he violated it perhaps, maybe it is in his contract he should reread his contract if he has one and perhaps call his boss about legal matters and then compensation people

Answer 8

That definitely doesn't sound right, I think your dad needs to see an Employment lawyer ASAP. He should first go to a Law Centre, they won't charge for advice.

Answer 9

hi usually you are in a 6 week probation period your dad will have to check if that was in the contract but i would definately contact citizens advice and see where he stands! good luck hun x

Answer 10

I'm afraid they can do that as your dad was only there a short time..That's the reason a lot of people use temps...