2. Can an employee be summarily dismissed for participating in work-to-rule campaigns?

2. Can an employee be summarily dismissed for participating in work-to-rule campaigns?

Taking part by employees in a strike (as defined in the Trade Unions Ordinance) is not a lawful ground for an employer to dismiss them summarily. However, depending on the detail of the "work-to-rule campaigns", they may or may not fall within the definition of "strike". The definition of "strike" is "the cessation of work by a body of persons employed acting in combination, or a concerted refusal, or a refusal under a common understanding, of any number of persons employed, to continue to work for an employer in consequence of a dispute, done as a means of compelling their employer or the employer of any other person or body of persons, or any person or body of persons employed, to accept or not to accept terms or conditions of or affecting employment". In other words, an industrial action is a strike only if it is done as a result of a dispute between employees and their employer and is performed as a method to compel their employer to accept certain terms or conditions of their employment. Any industrial actions that fall outside the definition is not a "strike". Normally, no pressure could have been put on employers should the staff genuinely "work to the rules". Many campaigns of this sort involve misinterpretation of rules or neglect of some valid oral (unwritten) rules.