But while decision allows businesses to sanction staff who take part in industrial action, experts urge caution around the impact on employee relations
Employees who take part in strike action are not protected from any sanctions short of dismissal, the Court of Appeal has ruled.
The decision has the effect of allowing organisations to take action against employees taking part in industrial action, including depriving them of non-contractual benefits, as long as they are not dismissed for their participation, experts have said.
However, businesses are still advised to “exercise caution”, as experts stress this is still a nuanced area of law and that any sanctions could have a wider impact on employee relations.
The decision comes after the government asked the Court of Appeal to reconsider an earlier case in which the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) found that the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) – which provides a right to express an opinion and the right to assembly – protected an employee who had participated in a strike.
However, the Court of Appeal ruled that, despite what the ECHR said, the UK had not implemented the primary legislation necessary to protect employees in this way.
Alan Lewis, partner at Constantine Law, said this meant that under UK law, employers could “take action short of dismissal where an employee participates in industrial action”, for example by depriving strikers (but not those employees who continued to work) of...
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