Dismissal for asserting a statutory employment right

Employees will be unfairly dismissed if their employer dismisses them (or selects them for redundancy when others in similar circumstances are not selected) because they have sought to assert one of their statutory employment protection rights either by bringing proceedings against the employer to enforce the right or by alleging in some other way that the employer has infringed the right.

To benefit from this protection, employees do not necessarily have to have specified the right they sought to assert, so long as they made it reasonably clear to the employer what that right was.

Provided that they have acted in good faith, employees are protected regardless of whether or not they did in fact qualify for the right they sought to assert and regardless of whether or not that right had in fact been infringed.

The rights covered by the protection are those relating to:

• written statement of employment particulars;
• itemised pay statement;
• guarantee pay;
• remuneration during suspension on medical grounds;
• time off for public duties;
• time off to look for work or make arrangements for training prior to redundancy;
• time off for antenatal care;
• protection against unlawful deductions from pay;
• protection against unlawful receipt of payments by employer;
• protection against detriment in health and safety cases;
• minimum period of notice;
• deduction of unauthorised or excessive union subscriptions;
• requiring the employer to stop payment of a contribution to a union's political fund;
• detriment by any act, or any failure to act, on trade union grounds;
• time off for trade union duties and activities or training;
• protection against detriment in cases relating to Sunday shop or betting work;
• time off for employee pension scheme trustee duties or training;
• time off for employee representative duties or candidacy;
• working time, rest periods, breaks and annual leave;
• making a public interest disclosure;
• time off for study or training;
• parental leave;
• time off for dependants.

Similar protection is provided for where action is taken to enforce an employee's right to the national minimum wage (see Dismissal relating to the national minimum wage), or working tax credit (see Dismissal relating to the Tax Credits Act 2002) and where an employee takes certain actions under the Transnational Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 1999 (see Dismissal relating to the Transnational Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 1999).

There is no qualifying period of service or age limit for employees who wish to complain that they have been dismissed for one of the reasons described in this section.