November 2011
After a number of months of speculation the Government has announced its proposals for the biggest shakeup of employment law for many years.
The main proposals (as anticipated by commentators recently) are:-
- unfair dismissal qualifying period to increase to two years;
- compulsory lodging of all claims through Acas, for an attempt at mediation, before they can be lodged with the tribunal;
- consultation on the introduction of protected conversations, with the proviso that they will not extend to protect discriminatory acts;
- a call for evidence, with a view to consultation, on reducing the minimum period (90 days currently) for large scale redundancy consultation to 60, 45 or 30 days.
There are some further proposals and other proposals, which have not been referred to previously:-
- options for a 'rapid resolution scheme', to enable simple claims to be settled within three months;
- amendment to s147 of Equality Act 2010, to clarify compromise agreements can be used to settle discrimination claims;
- complaints about breach of employment contract to be taken out of whistleblowing law;
- financial penalties to be introduced on employers who breach employment rights, payable to the Exchequer, subject to a discretion exercisable by Employment Judges;
- a fundamental review of employment tribunal rules of procedure, to be led by Underhill J (who steps down as President of the EAT at the end of next month), to include changes to costs and deposit orders;
- Employment Judges to sit alone in unfair dismissal cases;
- CRB checks to be portable, so no need for a fresh application when moving jobs;
- maternity and paternity leave to be 'modernised', with emphasis on greater involvement for fathers.
There may also be something further to follow on no-fault dismissals for micro-businesses – but there are no proposals at the moment on this
For advice on these proposals and any current employment law issues please contact our employment team.
