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Employment Law Review – Annual Update March 2012
Monday, March 19th, 2012
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BIS have published their updated Annual Review document detailing the employment law reforms that are already going through Parliament as a result of its Resolving Workplace Disputes consultation:
Effective 06 April 2012 (and subject to Parliamentary approval of secondary legislation):
- Increasing the unfair dismissal qualifying period from 1 to 2 years
- Increasing the maximum limit for deposit orders and cost awards to £1,000 and £20,000 respectively (Deposits of £500 are currently paid to Employment Tribunals where a party wishes to continue their appeal. Cost awards are made by a Tribunal currently up to £10,000, with any request for excess costs having to be made to the County Court)
- Allowing judges to sit alone in unfair dismissal cases
- Allowing judges the right to allocate witness expenses to either party in an appeal
- Allowing witness statement to be ‘taken as read’ (i.e. to speed the process, the witness would not have to read their statement)
Effective upon Parliamentary approval (and dependent on time) of primary legislation:
- Early conciliation – all cases will be reviewed at ACAS in an attempt to resolve them before lodging at Tribunal
- Financial penalties – giving judges the power to impose penalties on employers found to have breached employment law
- Allow judges to sit alone at the Tribunal rather than including lay members (industry / profession specialists advising on points of workplace practice)
- Limits – modifying the formula for calculating increases to Statutory redundancy payments and Tribunal awards
- Rapid Resolution – developing options to speed ‘straightforward’ claims
- Compromise Agreements – renaming to ‘Settlement Agreements’
Further Information
