Scenario 3 – dismissal during unofficial industrial action

Workers dismissed during unofficial industrial action have no right to claim unfair dismissal. Employers can freely choose to dismiss some but not all of the striking workers during unofficial industrial action without any legal comeback (with a few exceptions in cases such as health and safety dismissals – see below). See also Chapter 4: Official and unofficial action.

Where industrial action has been repudiated by a trade union, it will not be treated as “unofficial” for the purpose of the right to claim unfair dismissal until the end of the next working day after the day of the repudiation (section 237(4), TULRCA).