Introduction

The unfair dismissal law provides a right to individual employees to file a legal suit against the employer or a manager if one thinks that she/he is unfairly dismissed. Scholars have argued that the unfair dismissal law is quite effective in deterring managers from unfair dismissal and encouraging the adaptation of disciplinary and fair practices. Some of these scholars have argued that terms and conditions involved in the unfair dismissal law make it less effective. The purpose of this essay is to investigate the extent to which the unfair dismissal law deters managers from unfair dismissals and encourage adaptation of fair practices.

Main Body

Dismissal is when an employer ends the employment of an individual. As per the policies of some organisations, managers are not supposed to give a notice for one month, but they have a right to instantly dismiss an individual employee. As per the dismissal law, a manager can dismiss an individual employee without giving notice, but one cannot dismiss an employee without justifying a valid reason for the dismissal (Collins, 2018). The unfair dismissal law was developed in order to protect the rights of individual employees. The unfair dismissal law enables an employee to take legal actions against a manager or an organisation if one thinks that he/she is unfairly dismissed. The unfair dismissal law has provided a basis for discouraging managers from dismissing employees unfairly (Howe, 2016). For example, some small and medium-sized organisations dismiss pregnant employees in order to avoid maternity leaves. This act is totally unjustified and the unfair dismissal law discourages managers from doing so. This is just one example of how unfair dismissal law discourages managers from unfairly dismissing employees and encourages the adaptation of fair disciplinary practices in order to operate effectively. Pen (2016) said that an employer is supposed to answer some of the questions of an employee before dismissing him/her. Shi & Zhong (2018) also supported the above argument by saying that unfair dismissal law provides an employee with a right that one can ask a fair reason for the dismissal. Alharbi (2020) said that if an employer fails to justify the reason for the dismissal, the unfair dismissal law provides an opportunity for an individual employee to adopt a legal path. Adejugbe & Adejugbe (2020) said that there are multiple reasons owing to which employers dismiss employees unfairly. Firstly, pregnancy or maternity leaves provoke managers to dismiss an individual employee despite granting maternity leaves. The unfair dismissal law discourages managers from doing so as they could be charged as per the legal suit. Such restrictions by unfair dismissal law enable a manager or an employer to adopt a number of fair practices. Kovács (2016) said that the unfair dismissal law encourages managers to think twice while dismissing an individual employee as one has to justify a valid reason. Howe et al. (2018) also supported the above argument by saying that the threat of being challenged in court makes employers think multiple times before dismissing an individual employee. It is quite evident that unfair dismissal law provides job protection to employees.

The existence of unions can be very dangerous for an organisation. A number of organisations try their level best to discourage the formation of unions so that they could be able to exploit the rights of employees. Some of these organisations adopt unfair means to discourage the formation of unions by dismissing employees involved in establishing unions. As per the unfair dismissal law, an employer cannot dismiss an individual employee if one is involved in the establishment of a union. This means that unfair dismissal law not only provides job security, but it also helps in protecting the rights of employees. This is because the unfair dismissal law supports the formation of unions that are supposed to protect the rights of individual employees. Beebeejaun (2018) also supported the above argument by saying that unions have the ability to protect the rights of employees. Oliver (2016) said that business war and acquisition also result in the dismissal of employees which is not fair. Collins (2018) said that the unfair dismissal law discourages employees from dismissing employees owing to such reasons while encouraging employers for adopting fair and disciplinary practices. No doubt, the unfair dismissal law protects the rights of individual employees, but there are some terms and conditions for legally challenging an employer. The very first and the most important thing is that an individual employee must have been employed for more than 2 years. Howe (2016) said that if an employee is dismissed unfairly and he/she haven’t completed two years in the organisation, one doesn’t have a right to challenge the employer in court. Pen (2016) also supported the above argument by saying that the unfair dismissal law is applicable after the completion of 2 years of employment with an organisation. Shi & Zhong (2018) said that this term of the unfair dismissal law reduces the efficacy of the law. Alharbi (2020) said that a large number of employees are unfairly dismissed owing to certain reasons such as race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. The author included that most of these employees have not completed 2 years of employment owing to which they are unable to challenge the unfair behaviour of the employer.

Conclusion

It is quite evident from the above analysis that the unfair dismissal law provides a strong basis for discouraging managers from unfairly dismissing employees and encouraging them for adopting fair and disciplinary practices. This is because the unfair dismissal law enables an individual employee to challenge an employer if one thinks that he/she is dismissed unfairly. Employees are dismissed by the managers on the basis of their race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. Some other reasons for unfair dismissal are pregnancy, maternity leaves, and the establishment of unions. It has also been analysed that the unfair dismissal law is applicable only if the employee has completed 2 years of employment within a specific organisation. This condition makes the unfair dismissal law less authentic and protective as multiple employees are dismissed unfairly by small and medium firms before they complete 2 years of employment.

References

Adejugbe, A., & Adejugbe, A. (2020). The Philosophy of Unfair Dismissal Law in Nigeria. Journal of Management, 1(2), pp. 91-99.

Alharbi, M. N. (2020). Assessment of changes to Saudi Labour Law regarding unfair dismissal of employees. International Journal of Law and Management, 1(2), 78-98.

Beebeejaun, A. (2018). Unfair dismissal in the Mauritius context: a comparative study. International Journal of Law and Management, 7(2), 112-121.

Collins, P. (2018). The inadequate protection of human rights in unfair dismissal law. Industrial Law Journal, 47(4), 504-530.

Howe, J. (2016). Rethinking job security: a comparative analysis of unfair dismissal law in the UK, Australia and the USA. Taylor & Francis.

Howe, J., Berg, L., & Farbenblum, B. (2018). Unfair dismissal law and temporary migrant labour in Australia. Federal Law Review, 46(1), 19-48.

Kovács, E. (2016). Individual dismissal law and the financial crisis: an evaluation of recent developments. European Labour Law Journal, 7(3), 368-386.

Oliver, L. (2016). Unfair dismissal. In Encyclopedia of Human Resource Management. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.

Pen, J. (2016). ‘Never Tweet?’ Social Media and Unfair Dismissal. Alternative Law Journal, 41(4), 271-274.

Shi, E., & Zhong, F. (2018). Rethinking the reinstatement remedy in unfair dismissal law. Law Review 39(1), 363.