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The Government has published its response to the consultation on resolving
workplace disputes. The proposals, which the Government describes as "the
most radical reform to the employment law system for decades", include the
following:
- Unfair dismissal. The Government intends to increase the
qualification period for unfair dismissal protection from one to two
years. It considers that this will have "a positive impact on business
confidence", and will reduce the number of unfair dismissal claims by between
1,600 and 2,100.
- Compromise agreements. The Government will create a "standard
text" for compromise agreements, with guidance. It will consider amending
the Employment Rights Act 1996 to allow compromise agreements to cover all
existing and future claims without the need to list many separate causes of
action. The Government will change the name of compromise agreements to
"settlement agreements" in primary legislation.
- Protected conversations. In 2012, the Government will consult
on the introduction of a system of "protected conversations" that would allow
either employers or employees to initiate a discussion about an employment
issue "at any time...as a way of resolving the matter without fear".
- Mediation and early conciliation. The Government is, following
the consultation, "even more convinced" about the role that mediation can
play. It intends to introduce a requirement for all potential tribunal
claims to be lodged with Acas, to give the parties a chance to resolve the
matter through early conciliation. The basic early conciliation period
will be one month. Where early conciliation is refused or is unsuccessful
the claimant will be allowed to lodge his or her claim with the
tribunal. The Government will also pilot the creation of regional
mediation networks.
- Modernising tribunals. The Government has asked the outgoing
President of the Employment Appeals Tribunal, Mr Justice Underhill, to carry
out a "fundamental review" of the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure, with
the intention of producing a streamlined procedural code that addresses
concerns that the Rules have become "increasingly complex and unwieldy over
time". Underhill is to provide a recommended revised procedural code by
the end of April 2012. In particular, employment judges will sit alone
when hearing unfair dismissal claims. The Government will also increase
the limit for deposit orders from £500 to £1,000 and for costs orders from
£10,000 to £20,000.
- Financial penalties. The Government intends to introduce a
discretionary power for employment tribunals to impose a financial penalty on
employers that have been found to have breached employment rights, payable to
the Exchequer. The financial penalty will be based on the total amount of
the tribunal award, with a minimum threshold of £100 and a maximum of
£5,000. A penalty will be reduced by 50% if payment is made within 21
days.
- Rapid resolution for certain types of claims. The Government
will consult on how to introduce a scheme to provide quicker, cheaper
determinations in low value, straightforward claims such as those for holiday
pay, with the intention of saving time and money. This scheme would be as
an alternative to the tribunal process, and may not involve judges or oral
hearings.
Further, in a speech announcing the Government's proposals, the Business
Secretary, Vince Cable, made statements on several other issues:
- TUPE. The Government has launched a call for evidence on the
effectiveness of the TUPE regulations and how they might be improved. The
Government is "concerned" that some businesses believe the TUPE regulations
are "gold-plated" and overly bureaucratic. The call for evidence is open
from 23 November 2011 to 31 January 2012.
- Collective redundancies. The Government has launched a call
for evidence regarding the rules governing statutory consultations on
collective redundancies. In particular, it wishes to "explore the
consequences" of reducing the current 90-day consultation period to 60, 45 or
30 days. The call for evidence is open from 23 November 2011 to 31
January 2012.
- No-fault dismissals for micro firms. The Government will seek
views on a proposal to introduce no-fault dismissals for companies with 10 or
fewer employees.
- Fees for tribunal claims. The Ministry of Justice will shortly
publish a consultation on introducing fees for tribunal claims, seeking views
on two options: a system involving payment of a fee to lodge a claim, and a
second fee to take that claim to a hearing; and a £30,000 threshold, so that
claimants seeking an award of more than this will need to pay a higher
fee.
- Whistleblowing. The Government will amend the whistleblowing
legislation to stop employees from being able to "blow the whistle" about
breaches to their own employment contracts, which it says is not
something that the legislation was designed to achieve.
- Maternity leave. Mr Cable reaffirmed the Government's
commitment to extend the right to request flexible working, and to "modernise"
maternity leave so that it becomes "shared and flexible parental leave".
- Dismissal processes. The Government will look at "radically
slimming down" the existing dismissal processes, and seek views on how to
achieve this, including, potentially, by making changes to the "Acas code of
practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures".
- Criminal Records Bureau checks. From 2013, once a CRB check
has been completed, the results will be available online for employers to
confirm that no new information has been added since the check was originally
conducted. This will mean that CRB checks are portable, and that an
employee will not have to have a new check every time he or she starts a new
job.
- National Minimum Wage legislation. The Government will
simplify the legislation by merging the current body of 17 different
regulations into one consolidated set.
The Government intends that some proposals, including the
extension of the unfair dismissal protection qualifying period and the increase
of the maximum amounts for tribunal costs and deposit orders, will come into
force from April 2012.
Also
Government sets out proposals
on employment tribunal reform Read XpertHR's coverage of the launch of the
Government's consultation on reforms to the employment tribunal
system.
Government plans to consult
on "protected conversations" between employers and employees Read XpertHR's
coverage of the launch of the Government's announcement that it will consult on
"protected conversations".
Tribunal
Watch Keep up to date with employment tribunal issues on the XpertHR
Tribunal Watch blog. It features employment tribunal cases that have made
the headlines, as well as guidance and statistics on employment tribunal issues
that affect both employers and employees. |