Unfair dismissals act, 1977

• Act Number: 10
• Enactment Date: 06 April 1977

Number 10 of 1977
UNFAIR DISMISSALS ACT, 1977
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section 1. Definitions. 2. Exclusions. 3. Dismissal during probation or training. 4. Dismissal during apprenticeship. 5. Dismissal by way of lock-out or for taking part in strike. 6. Unfair dismissal. 7. Redress for unfair dismissal. 8. Determination of claims for unfair dismissal. 9. Appeal from recommendation of rights commissioner. 10. Proceedings in Circuit Court for redress under Act. 11. Service of documents on bodies. 12. Provisions relating to winding up and bankruptcy. 13. Voidance of certain provisions in agreements. 14. Notice to employees of procedure for, and grounds of, dismissal. 15. Alternative remedies of employee. 16. Amendment of Act by order of Minister. 17. Regulations. 18. Employment Appeals Tribunal. 19. Repayment of moneys paid under Redundancy Payments Acts, 1967 and 1973. 20. Amendment of First Schedule to Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act, 1973. 21. Expenses. 22. Short title and commencement.
Number 10 of 1977
UNFAIR DISMISSALS ACT, 1977
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR REDRESS FOR EMPLOYEES UNFAIRLY DISMISSED FROM THEIR EMPLOYMENT, TO PROVIDE FOR THE DETERMINATION OF CLAIMS FOR SUCH REDRESS BY RIGHTS COMMISSIONERS AND BY THE TRIBUNAL ESTABLISHED, FOR THE PURPOSE OF DETERMINING CERTAIN APPEALS, BY THE REDUNDANCY PAYMENTS ACT, 1967 , TO PROVIDE THAT THAT TRIBUNAL SHALL BE KNOWN AS THE EMPLOYMENT APPEALS TRIBUNAL, TO MAKE PROVISION FOR OTHER MATTERS CONNECTED WITH THE MATTERS AFORESAID AND TO AMEND THE MINIMUM NOTICE AND TERMS OF EMPLOYMENT ACT, 1973 . [6th April, 1977]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:
	Definitions.	1.—In this Act—
	“contract of employment” means a contract of service or of apprenticeship, whether it is express or implied and (if it is express) whether it is oral or in writing;
	“date of dismissal” means—
	(a) where prior notice of the termination of the contract of employment is given and it complies with the provisions of that contract and of the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act, 1973 , the date on which that notice expires.
	(b) where either prior notice of such termination is not given or the notice given does not comply with the provisions of the contract of employment or the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act, 1973 , the date on which such a notice would have expired, if it had been given on the date of such termination and had been expressed to expire on the later of the following dates—
	(i) the earliest date that would be in compliance with the provisions of the contract of employment,
	(ii) the earliest date that would be in compliance with the provisions of the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act, 1973 ,
	(c) where a contract of employment for a fixed term expires without its being renewed under the same contract or, in the case of a contract for a specified purpose (being a purpose of such a kind that the duration of the contract was limited, but was, at the time of its making, incapable of precise ascertainment), there is a cesser of the purpose, the date of the expiry or cesser;
	“dismissal”, in relation to an employee, means—
	(a) the termination by his employer of the employee's contract of employment with the employer, whether prior notice of the termination was or was not given to the employee,
	(b) the termination by the employee of his contract of employment with his employer, whether prior notice of the termination was or was not given to the employer, in circumstances in which, because of the conduct of the employer, the employee was or would have been entitled, or it was or would have been reasonable for the employee, to terminate the contract of employment without giving prior notice of the termination to the employer, or
	(c) the expiration of a contract of employment for a fixed term without its being renewed under the same contract or, in the case of a contract for a specified purpose (being a purpose of such a kind that the duration of the contract was limited but was, at the time of its making, incapable of precise ascertainment), the cesser of the purpose;
	“employee” means an individual who has entered into or works under (or, where the employment has ceased, worked under) a contract of employment and, in relation to redress for a dismissal under this Act, includes, in the case of the death of the employee concerned at any time following the dismissal, his personal representative;
	“employer”, in relation to an employee, means the person by whom the employee is (or, in a case where the employment has ceased, was) employed under a contract of employment and an individual in the service of a local authority for the purposes of the Local Government Act, 1941 , shall be deemed to be employed by the local authority;
	“industrial action” means lawful action taken by any number or body of employees acting in combination or under a common understanding, in consequence of a dispute, as a means of compelling their employers or any employee or body of employees, or to aid other employees in compelling their employer or any employee or body of employees, to accept or not to accept terms or conditions of or affecting employment;
	“the Minister” means the Minister for Labour;
	“redundancy” means any of the matters referred to in paragraphs (a) to (e) of section 7 (2) of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 , as amended by the Redundancy Payments Act, 1971 ;
	“statutory apprenticeship” means an apprenticeship in a designated industrial activity within the meaning of the Industrial Training Act, 1967 , and includes any apprenticeship in a trade to which an order, rule or notice referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) of section 49 (1) of that Act applies;
	“strike” means the cessation of work by any number or body of employees acting in combination or a concerted refusal or a refusal under a common understanding of any number of employees to continue to work for an employer, in consequence of a dispute, done as a means of compelling their employer or any employee or body of employees, or to aid other employees in compelling their employer or any employee or body of employees, to accept or not to accept terms or conditions of or affecting employment;
	“trade union” means a trade union which is the holder of a negotiation licence granted under the Trade Union Acts, 1941 and 1971;
	“the Tribunal” means the Employment Appeals Tribunal established by the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 .
	Exclusions.	2.—(1) This Act shall not apply in relation to any of the following persons:
	(a) an employee (other than a person referred to in section 4 of this Act) who is dismissed, who, at the date of his dismissal, had less than one year's continuous service with the employer who dismissed him and whose dismissal does not result wholly or mainly from the matters referred to in section 6 (2) (f) of this Act,
	(b) an employee who is dismissed and who, on or before the date of his dismissal, had reached the normal retiring age for employees of the same employer in similar employment or who on that date was a person to whom by reason of his age the Redundancy Payments Acts, 1967 to 1973, did not apply,
	(c) a person who is employed by his spouse, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, step-father, step-mother, son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, step-son, step-daughter, brother, sister, half-brother or half-sister, is a member of his employer's household and whose place of employment is a private dwellinghouse or a farm in or on which both the employee and the employer reside,
	(d) a person in employment as a member of the Defence Forces, the Judge Advocate-General, the chairman of the Army Pensions Board or the ordinary member thereof who is not an officer of the Medical Corps of the Defence Forces,
	(e) a member of the Garda Síochána,
	(f) a person (other than a person employed under a contract of employment) who is receiving a training allowance from or undergoing instruction by An Chomhairle Oiliúna or is receiving a training allowance from and undergoing instruction by that body,
	(g) a person who is employed by An Chomhairle Oiliúna under a contract of apprenticeship,
	(h) a person employed by or under the State other than persons standing designated for the time being under section 17 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969 ,
	(i) officers of a local authority for the purposes of the Local Government Act, 1941 ,
	(j) officers of a health board, a vocational education committee established by the Vocational Education Act, 1930 , or a committee of agriculture established by the Agriculture Act, 1931 .
	(2) This Act shall not apply in relation to—
	(a) dismissal where the employment was under a contract of employment for a fixed term made before the 16th day of September, 1976, and the dismissal consisted only of the expiry of the term without its being renewed under the same contract, or
	(b) dismissal where the employment was under a contract of employment for a fixed term or for a specified purpose (being a purpose of such a kind that the duration of the contract was limited but was, at the time of its making, incapable of precise ascertainment) and the dismissal consisted only of the expiry of the term without its being renewed under the said contract or the cesser of the purpose and the contract is in writing, was signed by or on behalf of the employer and by the employee and provides that this Act shall not apply to a dismissal consisting only of the expiry or cesser aforesaid.
	(3) (a) This Act shall not apply in relation to the dismissal of an employee who, under the relevant contract of employment...