How to dispatch an empty action?

The choosen answer does not work with rxjs6 any more. So here is another approach.

Although I prefer filtering for most cases as described in an another answer, using flatMap can sometimes be handy, especially when you are doing complex stuff, too complicated for a filter function:

import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';
import { Actions, Effect, ofType } from '@ngrx/effects';
import { flatMap } from 'rxjs/operators';
import { EMPTY, of } from 'rxjs';

@Injectable()
export class SomeEffects {
  @Effect()
  someEffect$ = this._actions$.pipe(
    ofType(SomeActionTypes.Action),
    flatMap((action) => {
      if (action.payload.isNotFunny) {
        return of(new CryInMySleepAction());
      } else {
        return EMPTY;
      }
    }),
  );

  constructor(
    private _actions$: Actions,
  ) {
  }
}