§ '.—(1) Subject to subsection (2), an employee has the right not to be subjected to any detriment by any act, or any deliberate failure to act, by his employer done on the ground that, being a trustee of a trust scheme which relates to his employment, the employee performed (or proposed to perform) any functions as such a trustee.
§ (2) Subsection (1) does not apply where the detriment in question amounts to dismissal, except where an employee is dismissed in circumstances in which, by virtue of section 142 of the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978 ("the 1978 Act"), section 54 of that Act does not apply to the dismissal.
§ (3) Sections 22B and 22C of the 1978 Act (which relate to proceedings brought by an employee on the grounds that he has been subjected to a detriment in contravention of section 22A of that Act) shall have effect as if the reference in section 22B(1) to section 22A included a reference to subsection (1).
§ (4) In the following provisions of the 1978 Act —
- (a) section 129 (remedy for infringement of certain rights),
- (b) section 141(2) (employee ordinarily working outside Great Britain), and
- (c) section 150 and Schedule 12 (death of employee or employer),
§ (5) The dismissal of an employee by an employer shall be regarded for the purposes of Part V of the 1978 Act as unfair if the reason (or, if more than one, the principal reason) for it is that, being a trustee of a trust scheme which relates to his employment, the employee performed (or proposed to perform) any functions as such a trustee.
§ (6) Where the reason or the principal reason for which an employee was selected for dismissal was that he was redundant, but it is shown—
- (a) that the circumstances constituting the redundancy applied equally to one or more other employees in the same undertaking who held positions similar to that held by him and who have not been dismissed by the employer, and
- (b) that the reason (or, if more than one, the principal reason) for which he was selected for dismissal was that specified in subsection (5),
§ (7) Section 54 of the 1978 Act (right of employee not to be unfairly dismissed) applies to a dismissal regarded as unfair by virtue of subsection (5) or (6) regardless of the period for which the employee has been employed and of his age; and accordingly section 64(1) of that Act (which provides a qualifying period and an upper age limit) does not apply to such a dismissal.
§ (8) Any provision in an agreement (whether a contract of employment or not) shall be void in so far as it purports—
- (a) to exclude or limit the operation of any provision of this section, or
- (b) to preclude any person from presenting a complaint to an industrial tribunal by virtue of any provision of this section.
§ (9) Subsection (8) does not apply to an agreement to refrain from presenting or continuing with a complaint where —
- (a) a conciliation officer has taken action under section 133(2) or (3) of the 1978 Act (general provisions as to conciliation) or under section 134(1), (2) or (3) (conciliation in case of unfair dismissal) of that Act, or
- (b) the conditions regulating compromise agreements under the 1978 Act (as set out in section 140(3) of that Act) are satisfied in relation to the agreement.
§ (10) In this section, "dismissal" has the same meaning as in Part V of the 1978 Act.
§ (11) Section 153 of the 1978 Act (general interpretation) has effect for the purposes of this section as it has effect for the purposes of that Act.'.—[Mr. Stern.]
§ Brought up, read the First and Second time, and added to the Bill.