These questions are being answered by Learn HR, a market leader in the provision of HR and payroll training and nationally-recognised professional qualifications.
Q: One of our employees intends to move to a cottage in the country. It sounds all very nice but is 40 miles away from work. Do we have grounds for dismissing him?
A: This is reason for dismissal only if you made it a requirement of the contract of employment that the employee lives closer to the place of work. Otherwise it is up to the employee to get to work on time and be fit to work and that is where problems may emerge. If the employee frequently arrives at work late, you are not required to take account of the travelling distance and may therefore take disciplinary action. Similarly if you find that the employee is making an unacceptable number of mistakes or his performance is deteriorating in any way then you have good reason to believe it's caused by tiredness, which means you can take disciplinary action. However, take care that you are not dealing with this employee more harshly than others with similar poor performance or timekeeping.
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