WO toolkit 2012 complete.pdf - GMB

SECTION 5.35
35. How long must I work before I can complain of unfair dismissal?
Before you can complain to an Employment Tribunal that you have been unfairly dismissal,the same
employer must have continuously employed you for at least one continuous year.
Special rules govern what is‘continuous employment’.Service is counted in weeks.Statutory maternity,
paternity,adoption and parental leave are included.Periods of absence due to illness or injury,or due to
lay-off,are also included.If you finish one job and are re-employed by the same employer the following
week,you preserve continuity.
Sometimes you can include periods of employment with another employer,e.g.if you move from a
parent company to a subsidiary(or vice versa)without interruption; or there is a transfer of an
undertaking,or a change in the members of the partnership which employees you.(You may need
specialist advice to work out your period of continuous employment).
You do not need one year’s service at all if you were dismissed because:
• You were a union member or joined in your union’s activities.
• You‘asserted a statutory right’,e.g.complained that you had not be given a pay slip,or of an
unlawful deduction from pay,or not getting the national minimum wage.
• Your dismissal related to health and safety,e.g.you were dismissed for your work as a safety
representative,or because you took appropriate steps to protect yourself and others from a
serious and imminent danger.
• You were pregnant,or for a reason related to pregnancy/maternity,parental leave or dependant
leave care.
• Of your work as a pension scheme trustee.
• Of your being or seeking election as an employee representative for consultation with your
employer on redundancies or transfers of undertakings.
• You refused to sign an opt out from the 48 hour maximum working week,or made a claim under the
Working Time Regulations.
• You‘blew the whistle’on malpractice by making a qualifying disclosure to a responsible person
under the(complex)Public Interest(Disclosure)Act.
• You are a shop worker or betting worker who refused Sunday work.
• You supported a union’s application to the Central Arbitration Committee for recognition.
• You asked to be accompanied to a disciplinary or grievance hearing,or accompanied a worker to a
hearing.
• You took‘protected’i.e.official industrial action.
• You claimed adoption,parental,or paternity rights,or requested flexible working.
• You claimed the right to equal treatment as a part-time employee with a full-time employee.
• You claimed the right to equal treatment as a fixed-term employee with a permanent employee.
• You claimed working tax credit or disabled persons tax credit.
• You were involved in the work of a European Works Council.