Notification of long-term incapacity dismissal appeal meeting

An employee has no statutory right to appeal against a dismissal on long-term incapacity grounds. However, it’s preferable still to give the employee an opportunity to appeal as part of an overall fair dismissal procedure. Use our letter to inform them of the date and time of the appeal meeting.

On appeal

We recommend that, to comply with general principles of fairness, you allow the employee the chance to appeal against any decision reached to dismiss on long-term incapacity grounds. This means, if the employee does appeal, someone other than you should consider the medical evidence and all the circumstances to see if the dismissal decision reached was fair. Use our Notification of Long-term Incapacity Dismissal Appeal Meeting to set up the date and time of the meeting.

The appeal meeting

If they appeal, you should hold an appeal meeting. The person who chairs the appeal meeting should be a different person in the management structure than the original decision-maker and, if possible, they should not have been previously involved at all in the original dismissal decision. This allows them to act entirely impartially. After the appeal meeting, the chair should notify the employee in writing of the final decision.