Illegal Termination: The Grievance Notice and Labour Court Route

Most people who have been sacked go straight to thinking about the Labour Court. In practice, the law requires a step before that: a written grievance notice served on the employer, setting out the grievance and what the worker wants — reinstatement, or the dues owed. Filing at the Labour Court without having served this notice first, or without giving the employer the response window the law allows, is one of the most common technical mistakes that gets an otherwise good case delayed or thrown out at the threshold.

The notice does real work even before any hearing happens: it puts the termination on record with a date, forces the employer to either resolve the matter or put its position in writing, and — if the employer stays silent or gives an answer that does not actually address the grievance — it is what opens the door to the Labour Court. Both outcomes (no response, or an unsatisfactory response) lead to the same next step.

Before any of that, there is a threshold question that decides whether this route is available at all: whether the employee ever held the power to hire or fire other employees. This is the test industrial relations law actually applies — not job title, not salary, not how senior the role sounded. A "worker" who never had authority to bring someone else on or let them go is protected by this route. Someone who did hold that authority over others is ordinarily treated as management, and pursues a civil suit for breach of contract instead — a genuinely different forum, with different timelines and a different measure of relief.

Islamabad and Rawalpindi sit under different versions of industrial relations law — the Islamabad Capital Territory under the federal statute, Rawalpindi under Punjab's own — so which specific law and forum applies can depend on where the employer is actually registered and operating, not just where the employee sits. We confirm this before drafting the notice, not after.

Step by step

1. Confirm eligibilityEstablish whether the employee ever held the power to hire or fire other staff. Only a "worker" without that authority can use the grievance-notice-then-Labour-Court route.
2. Serve the grievance noticeA written notice is served on the employer setting out the grievance and the relief sought — reinstatement, or the dues owed.
3. Employer's response windowThe employer has a prescribed period to respond. Silence, or a response that does not actually resolve the grievance, both open the next step.
4. File before the Labour CourtThe grievance is taken to the Labour Court, supported by the notice, the (non-)response, and the record of employment and termination.
5. Hearing and reliefThe Labour Court hears the matter and can order reinstatement, back wages, or compensation, depending on the facts.