Your rights if you take part in industrial action

From Friday 30 October 2026, an employer must not subject a worker to a detriment for the sole or main purpose of penalising, preventing or deterring the worker from taking part in industrial action. The change gives workers a right they did not have before: the right not to be treated less favourably by their employer, short of dismissal, because they took part in lawful industrial action.

The government has said that an employer may still deduct pay for time not worked during industrial action.

Why the law changed

Before this change, the law gave workers a clear remedy if they were dismissed for taking part in lawful industrial action, but no clear remedy for other kinds of less favourable treatment. In 2024, in Secretary of State for Business and Trade v Mercer, the Supreme Court decided that UK law did not give workers an adequate remedy where an employer penalised them for taking part in lawful strike action without dismissing them.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 and the regulations made under it respond to that decision. A worker can now bring a complaint to an employment tribunal under section 236A of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.

What counts as industrial action

Industrial action includes a strike, where workers stop work, and action short of a strike, such as an overtime ban or working to rule. The right applies to industrial action that a trade union has organised lawfully. In general, the union must hold a valid ballot and give the employer proper notice before the action starts. Unofficial action, or action organised without following the ballot and notice rules, does not carry the same rights.

What a detriment is

A detriment is a disadvantage a worker suffers because of something the employer does, or deliberately fails to do. Depending on the facts, the following could be a detriment:

• withdrawing a place on a training course
• removing a worker from overtime or from shifts that pay a premium
• moving a worker to less favourable duties or a less favourable location
• refusing or delaying a promotion
• placing a worker under closer monitoring than colleagues who did not take part

Each case depends on its facts. The question is always why the employer acted.

The purpose test

The right does not stop every decision an employer makes after industrial action. The tribunal decides what the employer's sole or main purpose was. The worker's complaint succeeds only where the sole or main purpose of the employer's act was one of these three:

• to penalise the worker for taking part in industrial action
• to prevent the worker from taking part
• to deter the worker, or other workers, from taking part

Timing is part of the evidence. A training place withdrawn one week after a strike, with the strike given as the only reason, requires an explanation from the employer. Timing alone does not decide the complaint. The tribunal considers all the evidence about the employer's reason.

What an employer may still do

The government has said that the rule does not cover decisions made mainly for ordinary business reasons. A course cancelled for every employee because of a budget cut, or places on a course allocated through a fair process agreed before the strike, are examples of decisions an employer may still make.

The government has also said that an employer may still deduct pay for time not worked during industrial action, and that a proportionate deduction of pay for that time is not a detriment under section 236A.

Detriment and dismissal are separate claims

Dismissal for taking part in protected industrial action is a separate claim. From Wednesday 18 February 2026, a dismissal for taking part in protected industrial action is automatically unfair. The earlier 12 week limit on that rule no longer applies.

A worker who has kept their job, but has lost a training place, overtime or a promotion, has a possible complaint about detriment. A worker who has been dismissed has a possible claim for automatically unfair dismissal. Some workers may have both.

Union membership and union activities

The new right sits beside an older one. Under section 146 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, a worker has the right not to suffer a detriment where the sole or main purpose of the employer is to prevent or deter the worker from joining a trade union, or from taking part in union activities at an appropriate time, or to penalise the worker for doing so.

Section 146 concerns union membership and activities, such as attending a union meeting. Section 236A concerns taking part in industrial action. Before the Supreme Court's decision in Mercer, taking part in industrial action fell outside section 146, which is why Parliament created a separate right.

Who can bring a complaint

The right belongs to workers, a wider group than employees. A worker who took part in lawful industrial action and then suffered a detriment can complain to an employment tribunal. Each complaint turns on the employer's sole or main purpose and on whether the industrial action was organised lawfully.

An example

Daniel, a warehouse team leader, had waited a year for a place on a management development course. His union held a lawful ballot and called a strike, and Daniel took part for two days. When he returned to work, his manager told him the place had gone to a colleague who had worked during the strike. The manager gave no other reason.

Daniel has a possible complaint under section 236A. The tribunal would decide whether the sole or main purpose of withdrawing the place was to penalise Daniel for taking part in the strike. The employer would explain its reason, and the tribunal would weigh the timing alongside the rest of the evidence. This is an illustrative scenario. It is not a real Belonge client or a decided case.

Time limits

For most claims where the act complained about happened on or after Thursday 1 October 2026, the time limit is six months less one day. Where the act happened before Thursday 1 October 2026, the time limit is three months less one day. ACAS early conciliation may extend the time limit.