Employment law

The employees argued that there had been unreasonable delay on the part of the employer in relation to the standard dismissal and disciplinary procedure. They argued that the delay meant that the procedure has not been completed for the purposes of s 98A of the Employment Rights Act 1996, rendering the dismissals automatically unfair.

HELD The question whether the procedure has been completed must be addressed before the question of noncompliance with the general requirements of the procedure. If the procedure has been completed, the question whether there has been non-compliance with those general requirements never arises.

Completion of the procedure is not conditional on compliance with the general requirements. All the prescribed steps in the applicable procedure may therefore be completed, even if there has been non-compliance with other procedural requirements, such as the timetabling standards.