Unfair dismissal
is dismissal without lawful reason or fair process, giving the employee claims for compensation or reinstatement. Regimes vary: the UK’s qualifying-period model (reformed toward day-one rights), Germany’s grounds-based protection in firms above ten employees, Switzerland’s abusive-dismissal damages — same label, different mechanics.
How claims arise — and how employers lose them
Losses cluster around process, not substance: reasons exist but hearings were skipped, warnings undocumented, selection criteria unexplained, or timing coincided with protected events (pregnancy, illness, whistleblowing) creating inference of prohibited motive. Grounds-based systems demand the file before the decision; damages systems (Switzerland) punish motive and manner.
Prevention is procedural hygiene: documented performance management, consistent policies, works-council steps where required, and settlement agreements where certainty beats principle. See termination of employment.
FAQ
What compensation do unfair dismissal claims bring?
By system: UK awards combine basic and compensatory elements within caps; German cases typically settle around the half-month-per-year custom against reinstatement risk; Swiss abusive dismissals cap at six months’ pay; France applies scale-based damages. Litigation cost and management time usually exceed the award mathematics.
Does unfair dismissal protection apply during probation?
Reduced but not absent: probation eases ordinary protection, yet dismissals for discriminatory or retaliatory motives remain unlawful from day one everywhere, and some regimes (UK reforms) extend day-one rights subject to lighter probation processes. Probation shortens process, not principles.