Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992

237 Dismissal of those taking part in unofficial industrial action. E+W+S

(1) An employee has no right to complain of unfair dismissal if at the time of dismissal he was taking part in an unofficial strike or other unofficial industrial action.

[F1 (1A) Subsection (1) does not apply to the dismissal of the employee if it is shown that the reason (or, if more than one, the principal reason) for the dismissal or, in a redundancy case, for selecting the employee for dismissal was one of those specified in [F2 or under—.

(a) section 99, 100, 101A(d), 103 or 103A of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (dismissal in family, health and safety, working time, employee representative and protected disclosure cases),

(b) section 104 of that Act in its application in relation to time off under section 57A of that Act (dependants);]][F3 ; and a reference to a specified reason for dismissal includes a reference to specified circumstances of dismissal]

(2) A strike or other industrial action is unofficial in relation to an employee unless—

(a) he is a member of a trade union and the action is authorised or endorsed by that union, or

(b) he is not a member of a trade union but there are among those taking part in the industrial action members of a trade union by which the action has been authorised or endorsed.

Provided that, a strike or other industrial action shall not be regarded as unofficial if none of those taking part in it are members of a trade union.

(3) The provisions of section 20(2) apply for the purpose of determining whether industrial action is to be taken to have been authorised or endorsed by a trade union.

(4) The question whether industrial action is to be so taken in any case shall be determined by reference to the facts as at the time of dismissal.

Provided that, where an act is repudiated as mentioned in section 21, industrial action shall not thereby be treated as unofficial before the end of the next working day after the day on which the repudiation takes place.

(5) In this section the “time of dismissal” means—

(a) where the employee’s contract of employment is terminated by notice, when the notice is given,

(b) where the employee’s contract of employment is terminated without notice, when the termination takes effect, and

(c) where the employee is employed under a contract for a fixed term which expires without being renewed under the same contract, when that term expires;

and a “working day” means any day which is not a Saturday or Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday or a bank holiday under the M1 Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971.

(6) For the purposes of this section membership of a trade union for purposes unconnected with the employment in question shall be disregarded; but an employee who was a member of a trade union when he began to take part in industrial action shall continue to be treated as a member for the purpose of determining whether that action is unofficial in relation to him or another notwithstanding that he may in fact have ceased to be a member.

Textual Amendments

F1 S. 237(1A) inserted (10.6.1994) by 1993 c. 19, s. 49(2), Sch. 8 para. 76; S.I. 1994/1365, art. 2, Sch. (with art. 3(1))

F2 Words in s. 237(1A) and s. 237(1A)(a)(b) substituted for words in s. 237(1A) (15.12.1999) by 1999 c. 26, s. 9, Sch. 4 Pt. III paras. 1, 2(a); S.I. 1999/2830; art. 2(2), Sch. 1 Pt. II (with Sch. 3 paras. 10, 11)

F3 Words in s. 237(1A) inserted (15.12.1999) by 1999 c. 26, s. 1, 2(b); S.I. 1999/2830, art. 2(2), Sch. 1 Pt. II (with paras. 10, 11)

Marginal Citations

M1 1971 c. 80.