Employment Rights Act 1996

Contents
1. Special provisions 2. Interim relief in health and safety cases

Employees have the right not to be dismissed on the following grounds:

• The employee left, or proposed to leave his or her place of work in circumstances where they believed themselves or others to be in imminent danger
• The employee took steps to protect themselves and/or others against what they believed to be imminent danger
• The employee complained about health and safety issues

Please note that the period of continuous service and the number of hours worked are irrelevant to this protection.

In terms of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (or Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996), it is automatically unfair for an employer to dismiss an employee on any of the following grounds:

• The employee carried out or proposed to carry out activities to prevent or reduce risks to health and safety at work or they were designated to carry out such activities
• The employee performed or proposed to perform any function as a representative of workers on matters of health and safety or as a member of a safety committee
• The employee brought to their employer's attention circumstances which they reasonably believed to be harmful or potentially harmful to health and safety and where no safety committee existed, or did exist but it was not reasonable for them to raise the matter by those means
• The employee left, proposed to leave or (while the danger persisted) refused to return to their place of work or a dangerous part of their workplace because they reasonably believed there to be a serious and imminent threat which they could not reasonably avert
• The employee took or proposed to take appropriate steps to protect themselves or other persons from danger when they reasonably believed the threat to be serious or imminent
• The employee participated reasonably in a consultation with their employer or in the election of their representative pursuant to the Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 (or Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996)

In order for an employee to bring a claim for unfair dismissal in the above circumstances, they do not need to have one year's continuous employment.

If an employee is a health and safety official and is dismissed, they will be entitled to the following:

• A basic award for unfair dismissal subject to a statutory minimum limit, which is currently £4,000
• A special award where an employee requests the tribunal to make an order for reinstatement or re-engagement, and the tribunal refuses to make the order, or it makes the order but the employer refuses to comply

If an employee is dismissed as a health and safety official, such dismissal may also give rise to interim relief. The claim must be brought not later than seven days after the effective date of termination and the employee must satisfy the tribunal that the main claim for unfair dismissal on health and safety grounds is likely to succeed. If the tribunal is satisfied, they will ask the employer whether or not they are willing to reinstate or re-engage the employee.