'Firing employees badly can turn into a serious workplace dispute'

Published on 16 Jun 2010 under category: legal

Employers should be careful about how they handle difficult workers – otherwise they may find themselves embroiled in an employment dispute.

In his weekly Metro Canada column, lawyer Daniel A. Lublin tells bosses that they risk paying out huge wrongful dismissal claims when they get rid of employees by racking up "unfounded allegations" of misconduct.

He highlights the case of Maki Nishina, a Japanese worker in Canada, who was awarded £13,000 after her employers were found guilty of unreasonable behaviour.

After clashes with a new manager, she was told that her use of email to send a personal message meant that she could no longer be trusted.

In response, she deleted all her personal information from the computer – after which she was accused of getting rid of company information.

The court awarded her money for "punitive damages" and told her former bosses that their actions were not proportionate to Nishina's behaviour.

This week ACAS have also warned employers to make sure they communicate with workers ahead of major World Cup games, rather than getting embroiled in workplace disputes.

If you require advice on employment disputes please call us on +44 (0)20 7831 0101 and ask for David Buckle.