What is summary dismissal of employment?

Summary dismissal of employment is the immediate dismissal of an employee because of his or her behaviour, the grounds for which  are gross misconduct  . (This may also be called immediate dismissal.)

In summary dismissal, the employee can be dismissed without giving any notice and without paying any pay in lieu of notice.

 It is important to outline the possible reasons for summary dismissal  in the employee handbook  , as well as  in employment contracts . If these steps are not taken, an employee may argue that they had no reason to believe their actions would result in dismissal.

What are fair reasons for summary dismissal?

There are many fair and legal reasons for terminating an employee. These include, but are not limited to, the following:

• appearing at work under the influence of alcohol, drugs or other substances
• Serious disregard for health and safety regulations
• Discriminate, harass or commit an act of violence against another employee, client or customer
• Damaging company property
• Stealing sensitive corporate, customer, or consumer information or data
• Starting a Competitive Business
• committing a fraudulent act on behalf of or against the Company or committing theft, bribery, fraud or sabotage
• enough defiance

Other behavior that  may be fair cause for summary dismissal  includes, but is not limited to:

• Ignoring software security protocols
• tarnishing the reputation of the employer

What are the grounds for immediate dismissal?

Immediate dismissal is another term for summary dismissal or summary termination of employment. Therefore, the same gross misconduct criteria outlined above apply.

When is summary dismissal unlawful?

When summary dismissal is not due to gross misconduct, it may be unlawful. Types of behaviour that may be considered valid for summary dismissal include:

• Regularly arriving late to work
• having too many absences
• Not paying attention to personal hygiene needs
• Having a distracting personal appearance
• do shoddy work

What is the procedure for summary dismissal?

Movies and TV shows often depict someone being fired ""immediately"", but summary dismissals are not so  immediate  . There are certain procedures that must be followed in carrying out summary dismissals in order to make it fair.

Here are the steps to proceed for summary dismissal:

1. State your intention to issue a summary dismissal to a specific employee.
2. Gather evidence of gross misconduct.
3. Obtain statements from any witnesses.
4. Ask the employee to attend the disciplinary hearing. Make sure an HR representative and/or union official are also present.
5. Give the employee a chance to rebut.
6. Make a final decision on whether the employee should be fired immediately.
7.  Prepare and serve a formal letter  of dismissal confirming the summary dismissal. This should include the reason for dismissal, prior warnings and  disciplinary action  (if any), the legal basis for gross misconduct, the date of dismissal and the right to appeal.

Following these steps will help you avoid some of the risks associated with summary dismissals. The two biggest risks  involve data protection issues for both the employer and the dismissed employee  , as well as a claim of unfair or wrongful dismissal against the employer.

What are the different types of dismissal?

• Fair dismissal:  the reasons may relate to redundancy, qualifications, ability or conduct.
• Unfair dismissal:  When no fair reason has been given for the dismissal, particularly if  no prior warning or disciplinary action has been taken against the employee  .
• Constructive dismissal:  If an employee was not officially dismissed, but felt “pushed out” by their employer. Examples include being threatened or harassed, not being given agreed hours, or having pay stopped.
• Wrongful dismissal:  this occurs when the employer breaches the terms of the employee's contract prior to dismissal.
• Voluntary layoff:  This occurs when an employee is voluntarily fired from a job on a layoff basis. This saves employees from having to wait to find out if they will be laid off or not.

Dismissal vs summary dismissal: what's the difference?

Dismissal  gives the employee the minimum statutory notice - one week for each year of employment, up to a maximum of twelve .  Dismissal also requires the employer to make a payment in lieu of notice.

Summary  dismissals  are effective immediately and do not carry these warnings.