Dismissed without warning – is your employer allowed to do that?

Many people who are dismissed describe the news as coming completely out of the blue. Whether this was permissible depends primarily on the grounds given by the employer: redundancy, personal reasons, or summary dismissal.

There is no general rule requiring a warning

LAS contains no express requirement for the employer to have given a written warning before dismissal. Nevertheless, this does not mean that an unexpected dismissal is always lawful. The decisive issue is whether the dismissal is based on objective reasons under Section 7 of LAS.

In cases involving personal reasons, earlier reprimands often matter greatly

In a dismissal for personal reasons, an overall assessment is made, taking into account, among other things, the circumstances set out in Section 7a of LAS. Under case law, it often matters whether the employer has clarified the shortcomings, the applicable expectations, and the fact that employment may be at risk if nothing changes. If this is entirely absent, it may weigh against the existence of objective reasons, but this always depends on the seriousness of what happened.

In serious situations, such as a criminal offence against the employer, dismissal or summary dismissal may in certain cases occur without a prior warning. Each case is assessed individually.

Warnings are not relevant in redundancy cases

A dismissal on grounds of redundancy does not relate to you personally, so a warning has no place in the assessment. Instead, the review considers matters such as whether the redundancy is genuine, whether redeployment has been considered, and whether the selection order has been followed.

The employer must still notify you in advance

Even where no warning is required, the employer has procedural obligations. For dismissal for personal reasons, the employer must, as a general rule, notify you at least two weeks in advance under Section 30 of LAS, and for summary dismissal at least one week in advance (Section 31 of LAS). If you are a union member, the union must also be notified. The dismissal notice must be in writing and contain information on how to challenge it (Section 8 of LAS).

Failure to comply with the formal requirements may give rise to an entitlement to damages, although it does not in itself make the dismissal invalid.

What you can do

• Keep the dismissal notice and write down when and how you received it.
• Gather emails, performance reviews, and other material showing what feedback you have or have not received previously.
• Note whether you received advance notification and whether the union was informed.
• Act quickly. If you want the dismissal to be declared invalid, you must generally notify the employer within two weeks (Section 40 of LAS). The time limit may vary.

If you would like help understanding your situation, you can describe it for a free initial assessment.