Statutory Dismissal Procedures and Automatic Unfair Dismissal

In Zimmer Limited v Brezan UKEAT/0294/08, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that for the purposes of the statutory dismissal procedures, a "Step 1" letter must state that the employer is contemplating dismissal. If it does not, then any resulting dismissal will be automatically unfair.

Mr Brezan was employed by Zimmer Ltd as Regional Sales Manager. The company sent him an e-mail inviting him to attend a disciplinary meeting because it was concerned that he was wrongly claiming mileage allowances. The e-mail stated that ‘mileage and expense claims' would be discussed at the meeting. However, it did not state that dismissal was a possible outcome, wrongly identified Mr Brezan's right of accompaniment and was sent less than 48 hours before the meeting. After the meeting, Mr Brezan was dismissed and brought a claim for unfair dismissal. The Employment Tribunal held that his dismissal was automatically unfair, the main reason being that it was not clear from the e-mail that Mr Brezan was at risk of dismissal.

The EAT upheld the Tribunal's finding and stated that even though the statutory dismissal procedures do not expressly require a written statement that the employer was contemplating dismissal of the employee, it was desirable to adopt a purposive approach to the statutory procedures so as to include such a requirement.