[Fawkes]

This site www.emplaw.co.uk is the one I use for all the employment law stuff at work. The quoted section below is relevant to your colleague:

From 1st October 2004, the Employment Act 2002 combined with the Employment Act 2002 (Dispute Resolution) Regulations 2004 SI 2004/752 introduce new statutory minimum procedures for regulating dismissal (and also disciplinary and grievance) procedures. The rules also provide for sanctions if the specified minimum procedures are not followed - a dismissal will be automatically unfair if the employer did not adhere to, at least, the minimum specified procedures (assuming of course that the employee had sufficient continuous employment to qualify) and any compensatory award which a tribunal orders the employer to pay will be increased by between 10% and 50%. Similarly employees who fail to follow the required procedures if they have a grievance against their employer will face a reduction in the compensation they might otherwise be awarded (see generally Disciplinary procedures/2004 new regulations ).

Where the statutory minimum procedures noted above apply, the timing and location of the meetings they require must be reasonable, both parties must be allowed to explain their case and a more senior manager should handle any appeal hearing, if reasonably practicable. Employees are entitled to be accompanied by a companion to most meetings (see notes at Disciplinary procedures/Right to be accompanied ). Provided the employee had clocked up sufficient continuous employment with the employer (currently one year but see Qualifying periods of service for rights/unfair dismissal for details) a failure properly to observe the procedures will lead to a finding of automatic unfair dismissal plus also an increase of 10% to 50% in compensatory award.

Compliance with the new statutory procedures does not mean that a dismissal is bound to be procedurally fair. Thus if an employer dismisses an employee in compliance with the new statutory rules but in breach of its own internal procedures, a tribunal will decide whether the dismissal was or was not unfair under normal general principles (see Unfair dismissal/fair or unfair? ). For an example of a case in which a dismissal was held to be fair even though the employer had not strictly followed its own internal disciplinary procedures before dismissing an employee (in this case for being absent from work without permission) see Morris v Freightliner Ltd, EAT on 16th July 2001

All employers must observe the statutory minimum procedures after 1st October 2004. There is no small employer exemption from the new procedural rules, although the size of an employer's undertaking may of course still be relevant in deciding whether a dismissal was unfair - see notes at Small Employers/a general introductory note .