23 January 2012 #Employment
In a November blog, we confirmed that the government would increase the qualifying period to bring an unfair dismissal claim from one year to two years, from 6 April 2012.
At this time no indication was given as to whether the two year qualifying period would apply, retrospectively, to employees who were in employment before 6 April 2012. However, since then, although no formal announcement has been made, it has been suggested that the two year qualifying period will only apply to employees who are employed after 6 April 2012.
Therefore, those employees who are currently in employment will remain subject to the one year qualifying period. This is the same approach that the government adopted in 1985 when it previously increased the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims to two years. This proposal remains subject to parliamentary approval.