Qualifying Period
The minimum length of continuous employment — currently two years for ordinary unfair dismissal claims — that an employee must have before they are eligible to bring certain employment tribunal claims.
Independent editorial summary — not the official statute text. Read the official version on legislation.gov.uk.
Not every dismissal can be challenged as unfair: the right depends on how long the employee has worked for their employer. Section 108 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 provides that the ordinary unfair dismissal right in section 94 'does not apply to the dismissal of an employee unless he has been continuously employed for a period of not less than two years ending with the effective date of termination.' This two-year qualifying period is the general rule for standard unfair dismissal claims.
The qualifying period is not fixed for every type of dismissal claim, however. Section 108(2) shortens it for dismissals connected with a requirement or recommendation under section 64(2) (broadly, certain health and safety suspensions), and a range of other provisions elsewhere in the Act remove the qualifying period altogether for automatically unfair reasons — such as dismissal for whistleblowing, pregnancy, or asserting a statutory right — where no minimum length of service is required at all.
Related terms
Official sources
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