Over the past year, the employment team prepared a series of articles on potentially fair reasons for dismissal. This final article in this series deals with dismissals for reasons of statutory restriction.

What is a statutory restriction dismissal?

Statutory restriction dismissals are defined at Article 130 (2) (d) of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 as:

“the employee could not continue to work in the position which he held without contravention (either on his part or on that of his employer) of a duty or restriction imposed by or under a statutory provision.”

This provision covers a broad range of scenarios and where continued employment of the employee would lead to a breach of a statutory restriction. Common examples