Q&As

Can an employee reject dismissal to extend continuous service?

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Published by a LexisNexis Employment expert
Published on: 09 May 2017

Where an employer states that it is dismissing an employee without notice, but has no contractual right to do so, can the employee choose not to accept the dismissal, keep the contract alive and, by doing that, extend his period of continuous service enough to bring an unfair dismissal claim?

The right not to be unfairly dismissed is a statutory right arising under section 94 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996).

For employees starting fresh employment on or after 6 April 2012, the right not to be unfairly dismissed generally only arises when the employee, by the 'Effective date of termination' of their employment, has been continuously employed for a period of at least two years (this two-year qualifying period is subject to a number of exceptions, such as where the reason or principal reason for dismissal is one which makes it automatically unfair, where the qualifying period does not apply). For further information, see Practice Note: Qualifying period for Unfair dismissal.

To succeed in a claim of unfair dismissal, the employee has to establish that he was dismissed

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Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom
Related legal acts:
Key definition:
Continuous service definition
What does Continuous service mean?

Treatment by an occupational pension scheme (approved prior to a-day under chapter i) of the pensionable employment of a member as continuous with a previous period of pensionable employment (within the same scheme or another scheme).

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