Compensation for unfair dismissal to be reduced

The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill currently being discussed in Parliament introduces the power to adjust the maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal. This is the award made on top of the basic award.to employees who win their case for unfair dismissal and have suffered loss of earnings.

The current cap is a massive £74,200 which added to the maximum basic award of £13,500 inevitably raises expectations that employees could get this amount and may cause employers to enter into higher settlements accordingly.

In fact the median award for unfair dismissal last year (2011-2012) was around £4,000 and the average about £8,000.

This is good news for employers as in future the maximum compensatory award is to be capped at 12 month’s salary.

NEXT SEMINAR

How to Manage Reorganisation and Redundancies Wednesday 15th May

http://www.hrdept.co.uk/south-east/south-east-london-and-north-kent/events/15th-may-2013-0900/how-manage-reorganisation-and

Book now

Settlement agreements - making it easier to sack staff?

Settlement agreements - making it easier to sack staff?

The Government wants to make it easier to sack staff. To be fair it wants to make it easier to hire staff too. However, its consultation on ‘Ending the Employment relationship’ has led to a number of proposals contained in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill currently being considered by Parliament.

It’s proving to be something of a headache as many of the proposed employment law changes due to be implemented in April have been put back to later in the year.

In the summer the Government proposes that compromise agreements will become settlement agreements. Is this just a change of name? Not really because currently discussions leading to the termination of an employee’s contract can only be held under the privilege of ‘without prejudice’ if there is a ‘dispute’ that is being ‘compromised’. Otherwise merely hinting that an employee should leave poses a risk to the employer of an immediate claim for constructive dismissal!

A Settlement Agreement does not require this. Therefore an employer will be free to approach an employee and commence settlement conversations which will be confidential and may not be referred to subsequently if they break down.

ACAS is currently consulting on a draft statutory code of practice and supporting documents, including template letters which include the line ‘you may wish to consider the following offer to leave on agreed terms’.  To be able to do this without any comeback sounds great, but to look at the devil in the detail go to the ACAS website http://www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/k/s/Acas-consultation-on-Draft-Code-of-Practice-on-Settlement-Agreements-February-2013.pdf

 

FREE HR Seminar  15th May 2013

How to Manage Reorganisation & Redundancies

To book your free place now

http://www.hrdept.co.uk/offices/south-east/south-east-london-and-north-kent

 

 

Employment Laws Delayed again!

Employment laws delayed again!

George Osborne’s idea for introducing employee shareholders received a blow recently when the House of Lords voted down the proposal in the Growth and Infrastructure Bill. The House of Commons is to debate this on 22 April.

The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill has also been held up. The House of Commons will be debating further amendments on 16 April.

The Government recently published ‘Employment Law 2013: progress on reform’ with a new implementation timetable for its changes. Many of these were due to come into force in April but have now been delayed.

So what is definitely happening in April?

6 April: Changes to rules on collective redundancies and new ACAS guidance – the 90 day consultation period for 100+ redundancies is reduced to 45 days

What may be happening in April? (Timescale still uncertain!)

Repeal of 3^rd party harassment provisions in the Equality Act making it no longer an employer’s responsibility if an employee is harassed by a 3^rd party such as a customer

Abolition of statutory discrimination questionnaires, which currently enable employees to ask lots of detailed questions to elicit information that may be helpful to a discrimination claim

Introduction of ‘caste’ as a 10^th protected characteristic in the Equality Act

The 2 year qualifying period for unfair dismissal is removed in cases where the reason for dismissal is political opinion or affiliation.
This follows a recent case (Redfearn v UK) at the ECHR when it was held that it was a breach of a BNP member’s human rights not to have the opportunity to claim unfair dismissal for being sacked for his political opinion. This brings dismissals for political beliefs in line with other forms of discrimination.

Consolidation of National Minimum Wage Regulations

By Simon Morgan:  HRRescuer

Next FREE Seminar:
http://www.hrdept.co.uk/south-east/south-east-london-and-north-kent/events/15th-may-2013-0900/how-manage-reorganisation-and