Protection against detriment or dismissal

Employees are protected from suffering a detriment or dismissal for taking, or seeking to take, ordinary paternity leave (OPL) or additional paternity leave (APL).

An employer must not subject an employee to any detriment by acting or deliberately failing to act, because they took or sought to take either OPL or APL.

Examples of detrimental treatment include denial of promotion, facilities or training opportunities which normally would have made available to the employee.

If you believe you have been suffered detrimental treatment under these circumstances, then you should raise a grievance with your employer.

You should not be dismissed or be selected for redundancy because you took, or sought to take, OPL or APL. Your employer cannot prevent you from returning to work after your OPL or APL ends.

If you are dismissed by your employer in these circumstances, then you make a complaint of unfair dismissal to an employment tribunal (or industrial tribunal in Northern Ireland), regardless of your length of service.

If there is a redundancy situation at the same time as you are on OPL or APL, you must be treated the same as any other employee under the circumstances. This includes being consulted about the redundancy or considered for any other suitable job vacancies.