can you be sacked on the grounds of 'not fitting in' (UK employment law)?

Question

a friend started a new job and was there less than 3 weeks and it seemed to be going well - she was getting positive feedback from her boss (one of the directors) and they were talking about the future and how her career there could progress. Then out of the blue she was called in by another of the directors (one she'd scarcely come into contact with until that point), and told they were going to 'let her go' as they didn't think she would 'fit in' or she wasn't quite what they were looking for. There was no reason given that would reflect on her behaviour or her skills or her ability to do the job - just a very vague 'we don't think it would work out'. The director who'd interviewed and recruited her and who she'd worked for wasn't even in that day. 

They paid the week's notice required by the contract and asked her to leave straight away. Is this on? Can she demand a proper, specific reason be given? (Our suspicion is that a negative reference was received from a previous employer with whom she'd had problems - what else could account for this sudden change of attitude?)
Opinions especially welcome from people with legal knowledge.

Steve B · Accepted Answer

The  first 13 weeks are 'probation' ... during this time, they can 'let you go' for no reason at all (they don't have to give one).

HOWEVER I would suggest she was the victim of political in-fighting - specifically the other directors acting against the one she reported to (since they got rid of her when he was away) .. the reason being (of course) that she was actually so good at her job that it would have exposed how inefficient the other directors departments were run (and how ineffectual the other directors were)

Unfortunately this still happens in some companies - often the 'old' and 'established' ones with little or no competition and zero growth but steady profit margins, where the directors have nothing better to do than play 'dominance' games whilst destroying staff moral and letting the company slowly decline until it finally collapses (to their great surprise)

flingebunt · Answer

This is a fairly grey area in employment law.

Many companies are firing people for "not fitting in" or "not sharing the workplace culture"

Very often they are adding this to the job advert and job description making it quasi legal.

What does no fit in mean, legally they need to have a set of criteria behind this. For example, not sharing the work place culture could simply mean "refusing to do unpaid overtime like the rest of the staff".

Where does she stand.

1. She was there 3 weeks so she is on the trial period which means they can legally let her go without giving a reason.

2. However they said "you don't fit in" which could trap them.

3. Is it really worth the legal hassle to deal with something that could have simply been "hey, we decided not to keep employing you during the trial period, and we donm't have to give a reason"

can you be sacked on the grounds of 'not fitting in' (UK employment law)?

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