Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977
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Dismissal by way of lock-out or for taking part in strike. |
5.—(1) The dismissal of an employee by way of a lock-out shall be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, not to be an unfair dismissal if the employee is offered re-instatement or re-engagement as from the date of resumption of work. | |
(2) The dismissal of an employee for taking part in a strike or other industrial action shall be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, to be an unfair dismissal, if— | ||
(a) one or more employees of the same employer who took part in the strike or other industrial action were not dismissed for so taking part, or | ||
(b) one or more of such employees who were dismissed for so taking part are subsequently offered re-instatement or re-engagement and the employee is not. | ||
(3) References in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of section 7 (1) of this Act to dismissals include, in the case of employees dismissed by way of lock-out or for taking part in a strike or other industrial action, references to failure to offer them re-instatement or re-engagement in accordance with any agreement by the employer and by or on behalf of the employees, or, in the absence of such agreement, from the earliest date for which re-instatement or re-engagement was offered to the other employees of the same employer who were locked out or took part in the strike or other industrial action or to a majority of such employees. | ||
(4) In this section a reference to an offer of re-instatement or re-engagement, in relation to an employee, is a reference to an offer (made either by the original employer or by a successor of that employer or by an associated employer) to re-instate that employee in the position which he held immediately before his dismissal on the terms and conditions on which he was employed immediately before his dismissal together with a term that the re-instatement shall be deemed to have commenced on the day of the dismissal, or to re-engage him, either in the position which he held immediately before his dismissal or in a different position which would be reasonably suitable for him, on such terms and conditions as are reasonable having regard to all the circumstances. | ||
(5) In this section— | ||
“lock-out” means an action which, in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute (within the meaning of the Industrial Relations Act, 1946 ), is taken by one or more employers, whether parties to the dispute or not, and which consists of the exclusion of one or more employees from one or more factories, offices or other places of work or of the suspension of work in one or more such places or of the collective, simultaneous or otherwise connected termination or suspension of employment of a group of employees; | ||
“the original employer” means, in relation to the employee, the employer who dismissed the employee. |