If you have been dismissed it usually means that your employer has chosen to end your employment or a fixed term contract has come to en end.

There may also be situations where you feel that you have to leave/resign from your employment due to circumstances beyond your control or due to your employer's behaviour. This situation may be classed as constructive dismissal.

All employers have a responsibility to follow the relevant procedures laid down by The Employment Rights Act 1996.

If your employer does not follow correct procedure in relation to a dismissal, if they have not provided specified reasons or they have acted unreasonably then you could have a case for unfair dismissal.

In most cases you will have had to have been continually employed for over 1 year before being able to claim that you have been unfairly dismissed.

If your dismissal was after 1st October 2006, it does not matter normally if you were over the normal retirement age set by your employer (or 65 if your employer does not have a normal retirement age) unless they followed a specific procedure.

Unfair dismissal claims normally need to be brought against an employer within 3 months of the date of dismissal so do not delay in taking action.