10. Dismissal

To bring a claim for unfair dismissal you must:

• be an employee (see Chapter 2);

• have been dismissed (see below);

• have (in most cases) at least two years’ continuous employment (one year in Northern Ireland) by the “effective date of termination”. This phrase has a precise technical meaning, explained on page 380.

For some types of unfair dismissal claim, no service is needed. No service is needed for a claim of:

• automatically unfair dismissal (except for dismissals due to a business transfer or a spent conviction). Automatically unfair dismissal is explained on page 373;

• dismissal related to political belief (see page 371); and

• discriminatory dismissal (see Chapter 7: Discrimination).

The first step in all claims (except a claim for interim relief – see page 385) is to submit a completed Acas Early Conciliation (EC) Notification Form to Acas. This mandatory step must be taken within three months (less one day) of the dismissal date. For information on bringing a tribunal claim, including how to calculate the three-month period and on Acas EC, see Chapter 14.

There is no upper or lower age limit on the right to claim unfair dismissal.