United Kingdom: Unfair/ Wrongful Dismissal

The Employment Rights Act 2025 will fundamentally reshape how UK employers approach contractual changes, introducing automatic unfair dismissal protections for core terms like pay, hours, and holiday entitlement. With narrow exceptions limited to severe financial distress, organisations must now prioritise employee agreement over dismissal and re-engagement, requiring HR teams to audit contracts, review restructuring procedures, and develop new strategies before the January 2027 implementation date.

Having an accident at work is not, on its own, a fair reason for dismissal. Employers owe every member of staff a legal duty to provide a safe working environment, and the law does not allow them to legally dismiss employees simply because they were injured or intend to claim compensation. As such, you cannot be sacked for purely for the fact of having had an accident at work, though the circumstances involved can affect whether a later dismissal is fair.

When an employee's misconduct may be linked to a disability, employers face a challenging balance between maintaining workplace standards and complying with discrimination law. Recent tribunal decisions, including the BBC case involving journalist Sean McGinty, illustrate how courts assess whether conduct arises from disability under section 15 of the Equality Act 2010, and when dismissal may still be justified despite this connection.