Friday, November 02, 2007
The Employment laws considered most problematic by most small businesses are Statutory Grievance Procedures, Maternity/Paternity/Parental Leave and pay, according to a recent survey. Most businesses put grievance and dismissal at the top of the list and business organisations are calling on the government to simplify regulations that many businesses claim are putting them off employing people. Even huge organisations like the GMB can get it wrong. In June 2003 Ms. Brown - a GMB employee - lodge a grievance against her line manager Tom Brennan, a regional Secretary with the GMB, claiming she was suffering from stress as a result of a series of "confrontational" meetings with him. Ms. Brown said she did not want Brennan to deal with the matter himself and she wanted someone else to hear her grievance. She subsequently claimed that, by the GMB insisting on her having to pursue her grievance with Brennan, they had undermined her trust and confidence in the employment relationship. When the GMB General Secretary, Paul Kenny, got involved in resolving the dispute it was, said Brown, the last straw for her and she eventually resigned in May 2003. The Employment Tribunal ruled that the GMB should have been willing to display some flexibility in the conduct of its written procedures. The union appealed and the Employment Appeal Tribunal upheld the decision that the unions refusal to depart from their written grievance procedure amounted to a breach of trust and confidence. Brown was initially awarded £40,883 but this was reduced to £36,219 on appeal.