The decision in Amicus v Macmillan Publishers Ltd is apparently the first time that the EAT has issued a penalty notice under the Information and Consultation of Employee Regulations 2004. It is, as far as I am aware, only the second case on information and consultation to reach the EAT, after Stewart v Moray Council.

The EAT imposed a £55,000 penalty out of the maximum of £75,000 that can be given. It acknowledged that, although the breach was not the most serious that could be envisaged, it was nonetheless a 'very grave breach affecting many employees'.

When the Information and Consultation of Employee Regulations 2004 were introduced on 6 April 2005, they applied only to organisations with 150 or more employees, but they are being extended to cover smaller employers. They were extended to organisations with 100 or more employees from 6 April 2007 and will be further extended to organisations with 50 or more employees from 6 April 2008.

If you are an employer still trying to get to grips with the legislation, XpertHR provides guidance on information and consultation, including a model information and communication policy [subscription required], a model agreement on information and consultation with employees [subscription required] and a summary of the law in our employment law reference manual [subscription required].

We also revisited information and consultation in our topic of the week series [subscription required to access the individual articles] in May, to coincide with the extension to organisations with 100 or more employees from 6 April 2007.

Read the full transcript of the case (Microsoft Word format, 58K) on the EAT website.