Since SMS messaging and email became standard forms of communication, they have often been used as a means of avoiding embarrassing and intimidating face-to-face confrontation. In certain well-publicised instances, employers have used SMS and email to sack their employees at a safe distance.

The most famous example of this occurred when The Accident Group sacked 2,400 people after its parent company Amulet Group announced that it would go into administration. Staff with company mobiles were fired by text message; others were told to "check their email for salary details". The email in question read "your salary will not be paid". Recently the founder and chief executive of the ring-tones company Monstermob was sacked by email on a Sunday afternoon with no prior warning.

To do so is not only slightly cowardly, it also constitutes a breach of statutory procedures for dismissal. Failure to follow these procedures can lead to a finding of automatic unfair dismissal and an uplift to the employee's compensation of 10-50%.

The dismissal procedure may seem to many managers to be a tiresome and tedious process, but given that the maximum unfair dismissal compensatory award is £58,400, sticking to the rules is crucial. The correct actions to take are as follows:

1. Write to the employee, setting out the nature of their conduct, capability or other circumstances that led the employer to contemplate dismissing them. You can use our disciplinary procedure document in this process.
2. Invite the employee to a meeting to discuss the issue.
3. Tell the employee of the employer's decision and offer the right of appeal.
4. If the employee appeals, invite them to a meeting to discuss the appeal and tell them the final decision after the meeting.

Following the correct procedure does not automatically protect the employer from an unfair dismissal claim, but doing so will certainly aid the employer immensely should the case reach employment tribunal.