Wrongful dismissal case taken to civil court

Our client, who is an accountant, was sacked from his job with just one week’s notice. As he had no formal employment contract in place, the terms of his employment were therefore ‘implied’. We are now pursuing a wrongful dismissal claim for insufficient notice on behalf of our client in a civil court. This option is open to employees when they are not eligible to claim unfair dismissal because they have not worked for their employer for the qualifying period of at least two years, but have had their employment terminated with insufficient notice.

In this situation, the court will look at the former employee’s salary, the complexity of the job and what a standard notice period would be for individuals working in that field. Since the general notice period for accountants and other professions is three months, one week’s notice is clearly not sufficient. We are therefore claiming three month’s pay for our client.

If you’d like information on making a claim in civil court, please contact us on 0116 212 1000. Wrongful dismissal cases can be taken to employment tribunal up to a maximum value of £25,000, or to the civil courts for higher value claims. You also have six years to bring a claim in the civil courts, whereas to bring a claim at employment tribunal, you only have three months.

View all