Would this be a wrongful or unfair dismissal?

SeagullFTB

We have an employee that has been full time since early 2019, but has been employed by the company since May 2018. He has passed his probation period. In the last month, we've had several problems and are looking at the possibility of dismissing the employee. The problems include:

- Falsifying time sheets. Caught twice (10 minutes and 15 minutes). When caught the second time, he made the 15 minutes up after work.
- Lying about other employees. Caught and witnessed.
- Since raising our concerns in an informal chat, his work rate has decreased so much that we are now losing money on his work. If we suddenly increase our fees, we risk losing the client.
- We had an office theft, but we lacked evidence to identify the culprit (possible 5 people including this employee). We carried out an internal investigation which involved asking all possible culprits a set list of questions. We have evidence that the employee gave at least one false answer. He also outright accused me (his employer) of stealing my own money to set him up. This was witnessed by a coworker.

I have a few questions...

1. Do we have grounds for dismissal?
2. Is it true that he can't claim unfair dismissal as he hasn't been employed for 2 years?
3. Can he claim wrongful dismissal? The employment contract states that our disciplinary process usually involves a first warning and final warning before dismissal?
4. Do we have grounds for gross misconduct?

We're a very small company without a dedicated HR department, so any help would be appreciated.

RichardD1970

Not been employed for two years you can get rid of for any or no reason (excluding protected characteristics).

Even if longer than that I would say you have more than enough. The falsifying time sheets would be gross misconduct I would have thought.

Tahlullah

Working for you for less than 2 years, then yes he can be dismissed, but as stated, you need to ensure that he does not fall under one or more the protected characteristics. That or any accusations of Whistle-blowing, where the accusation could be made against you the individual rather than the organisation/company.

TBagpuss

What did you do about the lying and the timesheets. Did you give him any kind of formal warning?

You can simply let him go on the basis that you don't feel his employment is working out

Comms69

Just give him his notice. Don't bother with a reason as it will only come back to bite you in the behind

jonnygee2

As its less than two years, the only decision you really have is whether to pay notice or not.

I think given the list I would go for gross misconduct. Although this is usually done right after an event and it seems these are all somewhat in the past, the fact is they will have very little recourse if you go down this route. A wrongful dismissal claim isn't usually worth making.

It is true he cannot claim unfair dismissal before two years although there are exceptions for anything related to protected characteristics.

Dox

Why on earth do you still employ him? Give him pay in lieu of contractual notice and get rid of him. Now.

KiKi

If the *contract* states the disciplinary process (really - don't put a disciplinary process in a contract for this very reason!) then yes, it could be wrongful dismissal if you don't follow it. Which is why you'd need to go for Gross Misconduct in order to go straight to dismissal without a warning.

KiKi

SeagullFTB

Do you think we have grounds for gross misconduct? To my limited knowledge, falsifying time sheets is gross misconduct as it's a form of theft. But does that hold up if it's only 10-15 minutes on two occasions (that we know off)?

getmore4less

How long ago were these time sheets altered?

Ozzuk

You only have to have reasonable belief that he was the thief, not absolute proof.