They said this… · Employment

“You have under two years’ service, so you cannot challenge a dismissal”

Misleading without context

Length of service can be crucial for ordinary unfair dismissal under the current transitional regime, but it is not a universal bar to every dismissal-related claim.

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Why this answer

What actually matters

  • Automatically unfair reasons, discrimination, whistleblowing and contractual/wage claims can have different qualifying rules.
  • The law is changing across 2026–27, so the dismissal date matters.
  • Do not abandon a claim based only on the phrase “two years”.

What you could say

Keep the response tied to the actual rule.

Evidence

What to have beside you

  • Contract, handbook and relevant policies
  • Emails, messages, meeting notes and outcome letters
  • Pay records, rota/time records or redundancy calculations where relevant
  • A dated chronology, including any grievance or protected complaint

If they still refuse

Move the dispute forward.

  1. Check the claim-specific time limit early; employment tribunal limits can be short and Acas Early Conciliation may affect calculation.
  2. Use grievance/appeal procedures where appropriate without assuming internal processes stop a statutory limitation clock.
  3. Get specialist advice promptly where dismissal, discrimination, whistleblowing or significant loss is involved.

Read the full rules

Go deeper before escalating.

Primary guideRead the detailed ConsumerWise guidance.Employment hubRead the full guide.GrievancesRead the full guide.Acas Early ConciliationRead the full guide.