
1 

(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Employment Protection (Continuity of Employment) Regulations 1996 and shall come into force on 13th January 1997.
(2) The Employment Protection (Continuity of Employment) Regulations 1993 are revoked.
2 
These Regulations apply to any action taken in relation to the dismissal of an employee which consists of—
(a) his making a claim in accordance with a dismissal procedures agreement designated by an order under section 110 of the Employment Rights Act 1996,
(b) the presentation by him of a relevant complaint of dismissal,
(c) any action taken by a conciliation officer under section 18 of the Industrial Tribunals Act 1996, or
(d) the making of a relevant compromise contract.
3 

(1) The provisions of this regulation shall have effect to preserve the continuity of a person’s period of employment for the purposes of—
(a) Chapter I of Part XIV of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (continuous employment), and
(b) that Chapter as applied by subsection (2) of section 282 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 for the purposes of that section.
(2) If in consequence of any action to which these Regulations apply a dismissed employee is reinstated or re-employed by his employer or by a successor or associated employer of the employer—
(a) the continuity of that employee’s period of employment shall be preserved, and
(b) the period beginning with the date on which the dismissal takes effect and ending with the date of reinstatement or re-engagement shall count in the computation of the employee’s period of continuous employment.
4 

(1) Section 214 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (continuity broken where employee re-employed after the making of a redundancy payment or equivalent payment) shall not apply where—
(a) in consequence of any action to which these Regulations apply a dismissed employee is reinstated or re-employed by his employer or by a successor or associated employer of the employer,
(b) the terms upon which he is so reinstated or re-engaged include provision for him to repay the amount of a redundancy payment or an equivalent payment paid in respect of the relevant dismissal, and
(c) that provision is complied with.
(2) For the purposes of this regulation the cases in which a redundancy payment shall be treated as having been paid are the cases mentioned in section 214(5) of the Employment Rights Act 1996.
John M Taylor,
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Corporate and Consumer Affairs,
Department of Trade and Industry
16th December 1996