Can you dismiss on a suspicion?
A bit suspicious
Where you have hard evidence of serious wrongdoing, an employee can be dismissed for gross misconduct. The same can apply where there’s clear evidence which suggests some sort of serious wrongdoing on their part.
But what’s the situation where you merely have a hunch that an employee is up to no good - can you dismiss them in this situation?
Is it reasonable?
You can dismiss an employee purely on a suspicion of serious wrongdoing - you’re not required to have clear and robust evidence first. However, any such dismissal will only be fair if your suspicion is both justified and reasonable.
For example, if something valuable goes missing from the workplace and the employer points the finger at a random employee and says: ”you must have taken it - you’re sacked!” , that is an unreasonable suspicion.
Look for evidence
On the other hand, if items or money only seem to go missing when a certain employee is working, then the employer may be justified in dismissing on a suspicion.
Nevertheless, before moving straight into a dismissal process, you must explore whether there is any evidence available that supports your suspicion - without this you could be on dangerous ground. When it comes to suspicions about workplace theft, not only can you look at what happens when a particular employee is at work, you can consider what happens when they aren’t there. Before taking any action, implement some last minute temporary changes and see what happens then.
Tip. This could be assigning the employee to other tasks, changing their shift pattern or rota, or asking them to take holiday at short notice. As an absolute last resort, you could consider suspending them (see The next step ).
Tip. If nothing happens during this time, e.g. no stock has gone missing, that is also evidence which can be put to the employee during a disciplinary process. To be on the safe side, try to have at least a couple of comparisons.
A fair dismissal
A dismissal will likely be fair provided you have:
- a genuine belief that the employee is guilty of serious wrongdoing
- sufficient evidence to support that belief, i.e. more than just a mere hunch
- carried out a thorough and reasonable investigation
- considered all other possibilities
- followed a fair dismissal procedure overall.
Tip. Even if the employee doesn’t have the required two years’ service to bring an unfair dismissal claim, you should still tick all of these boxes. That will prevent them from raising allegations of automatically unfair dismissal and/or discrimination which require no continuity of employment.
For a suspension letter, visit https://www.tips-and-advice.co.uk, Download Zone, year 23, issue 20.
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