Can I be dismissed for raising a health and safety concern?

What the Law Says

The Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 protects employees who raise legitimate health and safety concerns from being unfairly dismissed.

Under Irish law, if you are dismissed wholly or mainly because you raised a health and safety concern — for example, by reporting unsafe working conditions to your employer or the Health and Safety Authority — that dismissal is classified as 'automatically unfair'. This means the employer does not need to prove reasonableness; the dismissal is unlawful by definition.

This protection applies regardless of how long you have worked for the employer — unlike most unfair dismissal claims, there is no minimum service requirement for this ground.

You must bring a claim to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) within 6 months of the dismissal date. This time limit may be extended to 12 months only in exceptional circumstances.

Statutory Text

A dismissal shall be deemed to be unfair if it results wholly or mainly from the fact that the employee has made a complaint in good faith to the employer or to the Health and Safety Authority about a health and safety matter affecting the employee or other employees.

— Unfair Dismissals Act 1977, s. 6 — Grounds for automatic unfair dismissal

What to Do

Sources