Who is allowed to bring a claim for unfair dismissal?

To bring a claim for unfair dismissal you must:

• be an employee (see Chapter 2);

• have been dismissed (see page 266);

• have at least two years’ continuous employment by the “effective date of termination”. There is no service requirement in cases of automatically unfair dismissal, with the exception of dismissals resulting from a business transfer or because of a spent conviction, when the normal service rules apply. Automatically unfair dismissal is explained on page 289. There is no longer any service requirement for dismissals related to political belief (see page 296). “Effective date of termination” has a precise technical meaning, explained on page 299;

• have paid the correct tribunal fee or submitted a properly completed request for fee remission, supported by the correct evidence of your means (see Chapter 1);

• have obtained an Acas Early Conciliation Certificate (see Chapter 1). The early conciliation rules do not apply to applications for interim relief.

Strict deadlines apply in the employment tribunal. If these deadlines are not followed, the claim is likely to be dismissed. The deadline for bringing a claim for unfair dismissal is three months from the dismissal date. Much shorter deadlines apply where interim relief is sought. This kind of application must be brought within seven days (see page 138).

See page 302 for information on how the three-month period is calculated. The tribunal has a discretion to extend time to bring the claim but such requests are rarely successful. See page 301 for information about asking to extend time in the tribunal.

The first step in launching a claim is now to contact Acas to consider early conciliation. This is a new mandatory step, which must be taken within the normal three-month time limit for issuing the claim. See Chapter 1 for information on Acas early conciliation.

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