Smith v Glasgow City District Council [1987] ICR 796 is a UK labour law case, concerning unfair dismissal on the requirement for an employer to state a main reason for a dismissal.

Mr Smith claimed his dismissal from the Glasgow City District Council's Building and Works Department, after three complaints, and a majority decision by a special committee that he had to go, was unfair.

A letter to him had set out three reasons that (i) he unduly expanded the workforce (ii) he failed to respond to legitimate requests (iii) he was irresponsible in not getting written instructions before spending money on expanding and recruiting.

The Inner House of the Court of Session held that the committee wrongly took the second complaint into consideration and so the dismissal had to be unfair.

First, the employer failed to show the principal reason for dismissal because it did not distinguish among the three complaints.