What you are owed when you are dismissed

Dismissal is not a negotiation that starts from zero. Labour protection law sets a minimum by length of service, and an employer cannot agree its way below that, even if the employee signs.

What follows is the statutory floor. An employment contract or company rules may give more; they cannot give less.

How many days of severance do you get?

Severance is your final wage rate multiplied by the number of days the law sets for your length of service.

• 120 days to under one year: 30 days of wages.
• One year to under three: 90 days of wages.
• Three years to under six: 180 days of wages.
• Six years to under ten: 240 days of wages.
• Ten years to under twenty: 300 days of wages.
• Twenty years or more: 400 days of wages.

The 400-day band for those with more than twenty years was added relatively recently. Long-serving employees are still routinely offered the older, lower figure, so it is worth checking before signing anything.

What else are you owed besides severance?

If the employer ends the job immediately without giving proper notice, it owes wages in lieu of that notice. This is a separate amount, not part of severance.

Unused annual leave must also be paid out. Days carried over from earlier years are paid in every case; leave for the year of dismissal is paid unless the dismissal was for one of the serious grounds that remove the right to severance.

When do you get nothing?

Only in a few situations, and the employer must state the reason at the time of dismissal. It cannot invent a new one later in court.

• Dishonesty in the performance of duties, or a deliberate criminal offence against the employer.
• Intentionally causing the employer loss.
• Negligence causing the employer serious loss.
• Breach of lawful rules or orders after a written warning, except in a serious case where no warning is required.
• Absence for three consecutive working days without reasonable cause.
• A final custodial sentence — unless it was for an offence of negligence or a petty offence, where severance remains payable.

A general complaint about performance or fit is not on this list. Neither is restructuring, redundancy or closure of the business. In those cases severance is still payable in the normal way.

How is unfair dismissal different?

Even where severance has been paid in full, an employee who considers the dismissal unjustified may claim additional damages, or ask the court to order reinstatement. The court weighs the reason given, the length of service and the surrounding circumstances.

Conversely, an employee who resigns voluntarily, or joins an early retirement scheme and takes the benefits, has generally not been dismissed and has no claim to severance. That is why it is worth taking advice before signing anything.

Where do you make the claim?

• File a complaint with the labour inspector for your area, who investigates and issues an order. There is no cost and no lawyer is required.
• Sue in the Labour Court, which is designed to be usable without a lawyer and charges the employee no court fee.
• Choose one route for the same claim, not both at once.

Both have time limits, and the evidence fades long before the limit does. It is not something to leave sitting.

What to keep, from day one

• The employment contract, work rules and any written warning.
• Payslips for the last twelve months, since severance is built on the wage rate.
• The dismissal letter and any message giving a reason. The reason given at the time is the one the employer is held to.
• A note of your first and last working day.

This article is general information, not advice on your situation. The figures above are statutory minimums and can change. Bring the dismissal letter and twelve months of payslips and we will tell you what you should be receiving.