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Employers across the region have been warned to ensure they have a full set of policies and procedures, or face very serious consequences, when considering the dismissal of employees.

The advice comes from Roythornes Solicitors’ Maz Dannourah, who was commenting on the announcement that the maximum level of compensation for an Unfair Dismissal case will rise in February to over £72,000.

Speaking about the increase, Maz, an employment specialist at the city based firm said:

“An award of £72,000 would be enough to cause serious damage to most businesses and whilst this is the maximum, it shows the real dangers firms put themselves in if they are on the wrong end of a claim. We spend a great deal of our time advising organisations how to avoid claims in the first place and this is a situation where prevention is certainly better and considerably cheaper than ‘cure’.”

Maz went on to say that all employers should regularly review their policies and ensure that their management team and employees know what they are:

“At the end of the day no employer wants to face a tribunal claim for a number of reasons, but the increased financial penalty should give them further incentive to make sure they are doing things right.”