The Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996

Assertion of statutory right

135.—(1) An employee who is dismissed shall be regarded for the purposes of this Part as unfairly dismissed if the reason (or, if more than one, the principal reason) for the dismissal is that the employee—

(a) brought proceedings against the employer to enforce a right of his which is a relevant statutory right, or

(b) alleged that the employer had infringed a right of his which is a relevant statutory right.

(2) It is immaterial for the purposes of paragraph (1)—

(a) whether or not the employee has the right, or

(b) whether or not the right has been infringed;

but, for that paragraph to apply, the claim to the right and that it has been infringed must be made in good faith.

(3) It is sufficient for paragraph (1) to apply that the employee, without specifying the right, made it reasonably clear to the employer what the right claimed to have been infringed was.

(4) The following are relevant statutory rights for the purposes of this Article—

(a) any right conferred by this Order for which the remedy for its infringement is by way of a complaint or reference to an industrial tribunal,

(b) the right conferred by Article 118 of this Order, and

(c) the rights conferred by Articles 35 and 60 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations Order (deductions from pay).