Partner sacked without notice, fair?

[Gooooo]

He's been there just under 2 years, I think a week under 2 years, unfortunately.
It's a zero hours contract he's on but he did have a contract which stated if he wanted holidays/to resign etc. He needed to give notice.
He's also way past his probation period.
Anyway he's been told today he's fired. Understandably he's gutted, what I want to know is are they allowed to fire with immediate effect?
There was no gross misconduct, they were just unhappy with his performance.
We've got bills to pay as has everybody and my salary isn't that high.
They expect notice from employees but doesn't seem to work both ways .

I think you’ll get some better HR advice shortly from people n that area, but my understanding is that you can’t sack someone without notice even within the first 2 years. His contract should have a notice period in it.

that said, if he’s zero hours he’d likely not get asked to work during his notice so you’d get nothing?

are you sure he hasn’t been on a performance plan for a while and this is just the end of that process?

If his performance was not meeting expectations it seems unlikely this was the first indication. On a zero hours they can just not give him shifts as notice which amounts to same thing.

Not fair but probably legal unless he's been discriminated against in some way.

Are you sure there isn't more to this that he hasn't told you?

Give Acas a call.

If he was dismissed for poor performance it seems odd it wasn't brought up before. Was this really the first time his employer had said his performance was poor?

Just like that? Did they not put him on a development plan or anything? Usually you don't just get the boot without prior warnings etc.

If it’s zero hours then yes they can do this, even if they gave a months notice they don’t need to give hours. So it’s pointless.

I'm not sure how a notice period would work under a zero hours contract. Presumably if he insisted on working out his notice period they could just stop giving him any hours.

This

On a zero hour contract there’s little obligation on the employer to provide much notice, two weeks at most under statute, and the employee has few rights here. I would say that your partner would have more success focusing on finding other employment.

You need to get some legal advice because if he’s an employee the statutory notice of one week needs to be added on. If it takes him over 2 years that will mean he has the right not to be unfairly dismissed. Talk to ACAS

As said even if they said to him. You’re fired. Here’s three months notice. What difference would it make. It’s zero hours. So he’d get zero hours for three months. It is irrelevant either way.

id also say there is likely a back story and he has known there was a problem for some considerable time. With zero hours fhey don’t need to get rid before the 2 years. They can just give zero hours. So if they’ve fired with immediate effect something else is at play. Be it performance or something he isn’t saying/

What difference does a weeks notice make? He’s zero hours

No harm giving ACAS a call just so you know the facts.
He has a contract and he has been sacked. The organisation need to be sure they have breached any employment laws.
Coldspringtime may be right but definitely call ACAS. The law is there for a reason.

Yeah call ACAS.

Did he have any performance warnings beforehand?

What difference does a weeks notice make? He’s zero hours

He will have accrued annual leave hours so possibly needs to be paid those, he should also receive an % payment of hours worked in his notice period.

That depends on his contract and what leave he’s already taken. You also can’t get a percentage of payment on zero hours because a percentage of zero is zero.

I am wondering if folks don’t understand what zero hours means, it means they don’t need to even let you work one hour.

It makes a difference because of what the employment rights act says. If the week’s notice is added on and it takes him over 2 years’ service it gives him the right not to be unfairly dismissed. You can trust me on this one, it’s my job to know this stuff.

Speak to ACAS OP.

It's horrible and feels unfair and is also highly likely to be legal, sadly (I am a trade union official).

It's one of the huge downsides to zero-hours arrangements (I struggle to use the term 'contract' as there are so few obligations either way).

Coldspringtime is not right.

You’ll also know about the requirement if he’s an employee to add on statutory notice then?

Doesn't sound as if this is out of the blue you think it is. Not for him anyway OP.

I absolutely am. There is no requirement to give someone on zero hours, hours. There is no way round it

People on zero hours contracts get annual leave. Call ACAS