Reserve Forces (Safeguard of Employment) Act 1985

5 Priorities

(1) It shall not be treated for the purposes of the foregoing provisions of this Act as reasonable and practicable for the former employer to take the applicant into his employment, or to employ him as provided by section 7, either at all or in any particular occupation or on particular terms and conditions, if it can only be done by discharging some other person who—

(a) was employed by the former employer before the relevant date, and

(b) had been so employed before the relevant date for a longer period than the applicant, and

(c) was so employed in employment of a kind that was not less permanent in character than the applicant's employment,

or by refusing to take into employment, in accordance with section 1, some such other person as mentioned above who has entered upon a period of whole-time service and has duly made an application under section 1; and in this subsection " the relevant date " means the beginning of the applicant's whole-time service, or, where the other person as well as the applicant has entered on a period of whole-time service, the beginning of the other person's whole-time service, whichever is the earlier.

(2) It shall not be treated for the purposes of the foregoing provisions of this Act as otherwise than reasonable and practicable for the former employer to take the applicant into his employment, or to employ him as provided by section 7, either at all or in any particular occupation, or on particular terms and conditions, by reason only that it can only be done by discharging some other person who is not such a person as is mentioned in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of subsection (1).