Unfair dismissal – are you breathing easier?!

The Government has announced that it intends to increase the qualifying period for an employee to be able to claim unfair dismissal from one year to two years in April 2012. The Government’s aim is to increase confidence in the business world to get more employers to take on staff to boost the economy and get more people into work.

The HR Dept is all for any reduction in the red tape of employment law and this may assist in increasing confidence, yet the burden of an employment tribunal for any size business is always an ever present threat. Our view is that there will be an increase of workers with under two years’ service making discrimination, health and safety or whistleblowing claims, which do not require any qualifying period of employment. These are also more costly and complicated claims. Average awards for discrimination claims are about double the average for unfair dismissal claims. What is also often overlooked is the cost of actually defending a claim in terms of time and money as well as any award.

The facts are that the qualifying period for claiming unfair dismissal has chopped and changed over the years. In 1971 it was six months.  It was then increased in 1980 to one year (two years for small firms with 20 or less employees) and then increased again in 1995 to two years (regardless of the number of employees or size of the employer). Then finally in June 1999 the qualifying period was reduced to one year. 

Regardless of the qualifying period, our advice is always when considering dismissing a worker, take advice from your HR Dept advice line.

Another announcement sees that workers will have to pay a fee for lodging a tribunal claim from April 2013. However there is plenty of consultation that needs to take place before more details emerge including the level of the fee, which is expected to be as much as £250 to launch a case and a further £1,000 if it goes to a hearing.

Higher fees could be charged where litigants are seeking £30,000 or more in compensation and the fee would be returned only if the case was successful.

There will be exemptions for poorer paid workers, but this is a positive step forward to remove vexatious claims that clog up the system and should put off serial litigants!