Right to work clause

Our right to work clause ensures employees must immediately notify you if they cease to have the right to work in the UK and you have the right to dismiss them for illegal working, subject to complying with fair dismissal rules. This has become more important now that EU, EEA and Swiss nationals who arrive in the UK from 1 January 2021 onwards must apply for a visa under the UK’s immigration system.

No right to work

Our Right to Work Clause is aimed at ensuring employees must inform you immediately if they cease, for whatever reason, to have the legal right to work in the UK, and must provide you with full details of their situation. Our clause also states that if it becomes evident during the course of their employment that the employee doesn’t have the right to work in the UK, you reserve the right to dismiss them. You still need to act reasonably (including following a fair procedure) in treating actual or suspected illegal working as a sufficient reason for dismissal, otherwise it will be unfair regardless of our contractual clause. In this scenario, you should be able to dismiss where either you’ve actually established the employee has no right to work, in which case it will be a dismissal for breach of a statutory bar, or you hold a genuine and reasonable belief that they’re working illegally, in which case it will be a dismissal for “some other substantial reason”. You will first need to have conducted an adequate investigation into the circumstances.