found guilty of unfair dismissals at a new Employment Tribunal.

If found to be in the wrong, they could be forced to pay more than six months in salaries as compensation, be ordered to reinstate or re-engage an employee, and ordered to comply with measures in the Employment Act 2000.

And if cases are brought against employers by disgruntled workers who claim unfair dismissal, then the onus is on the employer to prove that a dismissal was valid.

The Employers Council is advising its members in information seminars to first make sure companies comply with the Act, then assess their risk and take advice on it. The Council also emphasises that employee documentation is more important then ever before.

Documentation of any written warnings and employee performances could help prove a case for dismissal.

But employers will now no longer be able to fire employees without giving them a "valid'' reason and employees can now ask for a written reason for dismissal from employers.

The Employment Tribunal is due to be set up on March 1, 2002 and will deal with cases either brought by a specially appointed inspector or an employee who believes they have lost their job through being treated unfairly.

The tribunal will hear cases of both "unfair dismissal'', when a person is sacked and they feel they should not have been fired, and "constructive dismissal'' when a person feels they had no option than to leave a job i.e.

they were pushed out.

The tribunal is being set up as part of the Employment Act 2000, which came into effect on March 1, 2001. Employers will have to adhere to new work practices for new employees, but have a year to get their houses in order for existing employees.

The Act gives workers more rights to appeal against decisions they feel are unfair, and if sacked or pushed out of a job, they can appeal to the Employment Tribunal for justice.

Employees will have to prove their case if they are taking the employer to tribunal for constructive dismissal.

If the Tribunal, made up of up to five lay people and lawyers, decides a business has been unfair, then it can demand reinstatement with back pay to the date of dismissal.

It can force the company to take on the employee in a comparable or reasonably-suited work.

Compensation, when paid out, will be for those with two years employment or less, not less than two weeks pay for each year of service. There is a cap of 26 weeks pay on what can be awarded.

In other cases compensation will not be less than four weeks pay for each year of service, and has a cap of 26 weeks' pay.

Once in the tribunal, which will be a kind of informal court, the panel will decide whether there has been a contravention of any provision of the Employment Act.

And where the members of the tribunal determine that there has been a breach of the rules, it must order the employer to either comply with the act or pay wages or benefits owed.

There is little an employer can do if they do not agree with a decision, as they can only appeal on a "point of law'' or a legal technicality to the Supreme Court, and not appeal a decision they do not agree with.

The company has only 21 days in which to appeal, after which they will have no legal recourse to change the verdict.