On-the-spot sacking (UK)

[motorollin]

Is it legal in England for an employer to threaten on-the-spot sacking when no prior disciplinary procedure has been followed? This has just happened to a colleague who was refusing to (unofficially) change her job role in such a way that she would be split from the rest of the team and moved to a different site, and would no longer be based on-site but would be doing only remote support. Only when our boss threatened to sack her did she comply.

Any advice gratefully received as we are considering taking this to an industrial tribunal if it is not legal.

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moto

[motorollin]

Thanks for all the replies about this. I did write a reply yesterday but it's not here for some reason. Maybe I closed the browser by mistake and thought I had submitted it. Anyway, it now turns out that sacking was not directly mentioned but was implied, so I don't think there would be any need (or case) for a tribunal. To be honest, we're just looking for reasons to take our employers to the cleaners as they're treating us so badly :madashell:

Thanks again

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moto