Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Act 2024 section 127

Protection of employees from penalisation

Section 127 prohibits employers from penalising or threatening to penalise employees for participating, or proposing to participate, in the automatic enrolment retirement savings system.

• An employer must not penalise, threaten penalisation, or permit any other person to penalise an employee for participating or proposing to participate in the automatic enrolment system.
• Where penalisation amounts to a dismissal under the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2015, the employee cannot claim relief under both this Act and those Acts — they must choose one route.
• Penalisation is broadly defined and covers suspension, dismissal, demotion, pay reduction, changes to duties or location, disciplinary action, harassment, intimidation, withholding of training, negative references, and failure to convert or renew temporary contracts.
• The definition of employer extends to include any person on whose behalf emoluments are paid, ensuring the prohibition applies even where payroll is handled by a third party.