Employment Protection Act 1975

58 Time off for trade union activities

(1) An employer shall permit an employee of his who is a member of an appropriate trade union to take time off, subject to and in accordance with subsection (3) below, during the employee's working hours for the purpose of taking part in any trade union activity to which this section applies.

(2) In this section " appropriate trade union ", in relation to an employee of any description, means an independent trade union which is recognised by his employer in respect of that description of employee, and the trade union activities to which this section applies are—

(a) any activities of an appropriate trade union of which the employee is a member ; and

(b) any activities, whether or not falling within paragraph (a) above, in relation to which the employee is acting as a representative of such a union,

excluding activities which themselves consist of industrial action whether or not in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute.

(3) The amount of time off which an employee is to be permitted to take under this section and the purposes for which, the occasions on which and any conditions subject to which time off may be so taken are those that are reasonable in all the circumstances having regard to any relevant provisions of a Code of Practice issued by the Service under section 6 above.

(4) In the Code of Practice referred to in section 6(2)(b)(ii) above the Service shall in particular provide practical guidance on the following matters, that is to say, the question whether, and the circumstances in which a trade union member is to be permitted to take time off under this section for trade union activities connected with industrial action.

(5) An employee who is a member of an independent trade union recognised by his employer may present a complaint to an industrial tribunal that his employer has failed to permit him to take time off as required by this section.