Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978

[F160A Dismissal on grounds of assertion of statutory right.E+W+S

(1)The dismissal of an employee by an employer shall be regarded for the purposes of this Part as having been unfair if the reason for it (or, if more than one, the principal reason) was that the employee—

(a)brought proceedings against the employer to enforce a right of his which is a relevant statutory right; or

(b)alleged that the employer had infringed a right of his which is a relevant statutory right.

(2)It is immaterial for the purposes of subsection (1) whether the employee has the right or not and whether it has been infringed or not, but, for that subsection to apply, the claim to the right and that it has been infringed must be made in good faith.

(3)It shall be sufficient for subsection (1) to apply that the employee, without specifying the right, made it reasonably clear to the employer what the right claimed to have been infringed was.

(4)The following statutory rights are relevant for the purposes of this section, namely—

(a)any right conferred by—

(i)this Act, or

(ii)the M1Wages Act 1986,

for which the remedy for its infringement is by way of a complaint or reference to an industrial tribunal;

(b)the right conferred by section 49 (minimum notice);

(c)the rights conferred by the following provisions of the M2Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, namely, sections 68, 86, 146, 168, 169 and 170 (deductions from pay, union activities and time off).]

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