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 310);


• In most cases, you must have at least two years’ continuous employment by the “effective date of termination”. This phrase has a precise technical meaning, explained on page 345. For some types of dismissal (summarised below), 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 337; 


• dismissal related to political belief (see page 336); and


• discriminatory dismissal (see Chapter 7: Discrimination).


The first step in all claims (except a claim for interim relief – see Chapter 5) is to submit an Acas Early Conciliation Notification Form to Acas. This new mandatory step must be taken within the three-month time limit for issuing an unfair dismissal claim. Acas early conciliation is free of charge.


Like all tribunal claims, no claim for unfair dismissal can be issued unless the claimant has paid a tribunal fee, or submitted a valid request for “Help with fees” (i.e. fee remission). For information on Acas Early Conciliation and tribunal fees, and on bringing a tribunal claim, see Chapter 13. 


Strict deadlines apply in the employment tribunal. If they are not met, the claim is likely to be dismissed. The deadline for a claim for unfair dismissal is three months from the dismissal date. For information on how to calculate the three month period, see page 347. There is a second key deadline following Acas early conciliation, in which the Claim Form ET1 must be filed with the employment tribunal. This is explained in Chapter 13.


The tribunal has a discretion to extend time to bring the claim, but requests to extend time rarely succeed. See page 348 for information about asking the tribunal to extend time in a claim for unfair dismissal. 


If interim relief is sought, the deadline is much shorter — just seven days. It cannot be extended.


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