Monday, January 07, 2008
Employers face bigger fines at employment tribunals if they fail to follow a statutory code of practice under proposed new laws.
Under the Employment Bill Tribunals have the power to increase a compensation award by 25% if the employer 'unreasonably fails' to follow a statutory code of practice.
Statutory dismissal and grievance procedures are scrapped under the new law. It means a return to the old law and the requirement for a fair procedure to be followed during disciplinary procedures, redundancy, etc.
Tribunals will revert to the Polkey principle in cases of unfair dismissal. This means that when an employee is dismissed without use of a fair procedure the Tribunal will be able to take into account the argument that the dismissal would have taken place even if a fair procedure had been used.
A range of new measures will also be introduced to encourage quicker resolution of employment disputes. Acas's powers of conciliation are extended under the new law and the fixed conciliation period is removed.
The Department of Business, Employment and Regulatory Reform has said that the government intends to bring the new legislation into force in April 2009.