Glossary · UK
What is Day-One Unfair Dismissal Right?
A proposed employment right, under the Employment Rights Bill, that would let employees claim unfair dismissal from their first day of a job instead of after two years' service.
Full Definition
Under long-standing UK law, most employees need two years' continuous service with an employer before they can bring an ordinary unfair dismissal claim at an employment tribunal, leaving employees in their first two years with only much narrower protections (such as against dismissal for a small list of automatically unfair reasons, e.g. whistleblowing or pregnancy). The Employment Rights Bill proposes removing this two-year qualifying period, making protection from unfair dismissal a 'day one' right for employees from the very start of employment. To balance this against employers' need to assess new hires, the proposals include a modified, lighter-touch dismissal process during an initial statutory probationary period, allowing employers to dismiss more easily during that window for reasons such as poor performance, provided a fair and reasonably light process is followed. The exact length of the probationary period and the precise process employers must follow were still being finalised through consultation and secondary legislation as the Bill's provisions were phased in.