The European Cooperative Society (Involvement of Employees) Regulations 2006

Unfair dismissal U.K.

31.—(1) An employee who is dismissed and to whom paragraph (2) or (5) applies shall be regarded, if the reason (or, if more than one, the principal reason) for the dismissal is a reason specified in, respectively, paragraph (3) or (6), as unfairly dismissed for the purposes of Part 10 of the 1996 Act.

(2) This paragraph applies to an employee who is—

(a) a member of a special negotiating body;

(b) a member of a representative body;

(c) an information and consultation representative;

(d) an employee member of a supervisory or administrative organ; or

(e) a candidate in an election in which any person elected will, on being elected, be such a member or a representative; or

(f) a participant in general meetings or section or sectorial meetings of the SCE as provided for in regulation 17(2)(h) or paragraph 11(2)(h) of Schedule 1, or paragraph 7(4) of Schedule 2.

(3) The reason is that—

(a) the employee performed or proposed to perform any functions or activities as such a member, representative, candidate or participant; or

(b) the employee or a person acting on his behalf made or proposed to make a request to exercise an entitlement conferred on the employee by regulation 28 or 29.

(4) Paragraph (1) does not apply in the circumstances set out in paragraph (3)(a) where the reason (or principal reason) for the dismissal is that in the performance, or purported performance, of the employee's functions or activities he has disclosed any information or document in breach of the duty in regulation 26, unless the employee reasonably believed the disclosure to be a “protected disclosure” within the meaning given to that expression by section 43A of the 1996 Act.

(5) This paragraph applies to any employee whether or not he is an employee to whom paragraph (2) applies.

(6) The reasons are that the employee—

(a) took, or proposed to take, any proceedings before an employment tribunal to enforce any right conferred on him by these Regulations;

(b) exercised, or proposed to exercise, any entitlement to apply or complain to the CAC or the Appeal Tribunal conferred by these Regulations or to exercise the right to appeal in connection with any rights conferred by these Regulations;

(c) acted with a view to securing that a special negotiating body, a representative body or an information and consultation procedure did or did not come into existence;

(d) indicated that he did or did not support the coming into existence of a special negotiating body, a representative body or an information and consultation procedure;

(e) stood as a candidate in an election in which any person elected would, on being elected, be a member of a special negotiating body, a representative body, an employee member of a supervisory or administrative organ, a participant in general or section or sectorial meetings or an information and consultation representative;

(f) influenced or sought to influence by lawful means the way in which votes were to be cast by other employees in a ballot arranged under these Regulations;

(g) voted in such a ballot;

(h) expressed doubts, whether to a ballot supervisor or otherwise, as to whether such a ballot had been properly conducted; or

(i) proposed to do, failed to do, or proposed to decline to do, any of the things mentioned in sub-paragraphs (d) to (h).

(7) It is immaterial for the purposes of sub-paragraph (a) of paragraph (6)—

(a) whether or not the employee has the right, or

(b) whether or not the right has been infringed,

but for that sub-paragraph to apply, the claim to the right and, if applicable, the claim that it has been infringed must be made in good faith.