Citation and Interpretation

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Employment Relations Act 1999 (Commencement No. 5 and Transitional Provision) Order 2000.

(2) In this Order, “the Act” means the Employment Relations Act 1999.

Commencement

2.  Section 16 of and Schedule 5 to the Act (unfair dismissal of striking workers) shall come into force on 24th April 2000.

Transitional provision

3.  The amendments to the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992(2) and the Employment Rights Act 1996(3) made by Schedule 5 to the Act shall have effect in relation to protected industrial action taken by an employee only where the employee starts to take the action on or after 24th April 2000.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order brings into force, on 24th April 2000, section 16 of and Schedule 5 to the Employment Relations Act 1999. These provisions amend Part V of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, to provide that an employee is regarded as unfairly dismissed for the purposes of Part X of the Employment Rights Act 1996 if dismissed, in certain circumstances, because he or she took part in official industrial action. The provisions also make consequential amendments to section 105 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (unfair selection for redundancy). Article 3 of the Order provides that the changes apply only to the dismissal of employees who start to take industrial action beginning on or after 24th April 2000.

Note as to Earlier Commencement Orders

(This note is not part of the Order)

The following provisions of the Act have been brought into force by commencement order made before the date of this Order: