Wrongful Dismissal

Wrongful dismissal differs from unfair dismissal: it is purely a contract claim with no qualifying period of employment, and compensation is limited to what you would have earned during the notice period, less anything you earned elsewhere in that time. The statutory minimum notice is one week per complete year of service up to a maximum of 12 weeks, and the contract may give more. Claims can be brought in the Employment Tribunal, where the contract jurisdiction is capped at £25,000, or in the county or High Court for higher amounts. Employees must mitigate their loss by seeking new work. Claims must be brought within three months in the tribunal, or six years in the civil courts.

What it means in practice. This is a small, precise claim about a broken promise, not a claim about whether the dismissal was justified. The question is simply whether the employer terminated in the way the contract allowed. Because there is no qualifying period, it is often the only route available to someone dismissed early in a job — and it is also the natural claim where a long contractual notice period was ignored.

A worked example. Rita has been in post for eight months on a contract giving three months' notice. She is dismissed on the spot for a disagreement with her manager. She cannot claim unfair dismissal because she lacks two years' service, and nothing about the dismissal is automatically unfair. But she was entitled to three months' notice and received none. She claims the value of three months' pay and benefits. She finds a new job after six weeks, so her recoverable loss is reduced to roughly six weeks of pay, because she must give credit for what she earned in the notice period.

Common pitfalls. Summary dismissal without notice is lawful only where the employee has committed a repudiatory breach such as gross misconduct — employers use it far more often than the law allows. Employees, meanwhile, sometimes bring a wrongful dismissal claim when the real value lies in a discrimination or whistleblowing claim, which has no cap and no service requirement. And pay in lieu of notice is taxable as earnings, so the headline figure is not what lands in your account.

How it relates to other terms. Wrongful dismissal is about the notice period; unfair dismissal is about the reason and the process, and the two can be claimed together. A resignation in response to a fundamental breach is constructive dismissal. Any tribunal claim must first go through Early Conciliation, and an employer may propose a settlement agreement to close the matter.

What to do next. Check what notice you were owed using our notice periods guide, then read wrongful dismissal for how to value and bring the claim. Confirm that holiday, commission, and benefits are all accounted for with final pay before you settle.