In most cases, an employee with less than two years’ continuous service cannot claim unfair dismissal.
However, there are some important exceptions where a dismissal is automatically unfair, regardless of how long you have had the job. For example, these include dismissals for:
- Being pregnant or on maternity leave.
- Being a member of a trade union or taking part in various trade union activities (including official industrial action).
- Properly reporting various kinds of wrongdoing at work — so-called ‘whistleblowing’.
- Exercising rights such as taking family leave.
Equally, you cannot be selected for redundancy for any of these reasons. If you think you have been dismissed or made redundant without a fair reason, you should take legal advice.