Among the most notable of changes during the summer included the following (please also refer to our July newsletter regarding New Employment Tribunal Rules 2013):

New Tribunal Rules
The Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure were revised to simplify and streamline the process for dealing with employment tribunal claims.

Changes were effective from 29th July 2013 and include combining pre-hearing reviews and case management discussions into a preliminary hearing, a sifting process by an Employment Judge and a new rule to encourage alternative dispute resolution.

Cap on Compensation  
The cap on compensation for unfair dismissal of either a year’s salary or £74,200, whichever is the lowest, came into effect on 29th July 2013. This will only apply to dismissals effective from 30th July 2013.

In reality this is unlikely to make much practical difference given that compensation is based on loss of earnings and Tribunals are generally reluctant to award more than 6 months’ future loss.

Fees 
Claimants who issue a claim against their employer in the employment tribunal are required to pay a fee. There are two levels of claim, depending on the complexity of the case, set out in the Employment Tribunals and the Employment Tribunals and the Employment Appeal Tribunal Fees.

The claimant pays an initial fee to issue a claim and a further fee if the claim proceeds to a hearing. The tribunal may order the fees to be repaid to the claimant if he or she is successful with his or her claim.

Fees are also payable for appeals submitted to the Employment Appeal Tribunal.

Compromise Agreements renamed Settlement Agreements
The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 renamed compromise agreements “settlement agreements” from 29th July 2013.

Settlement agreements are a simplified version of compromise agreements already in use by larger employers, and the Government very much hopes that their introduction will encourage more employers, particularly much smaller ones to use them before disputes arise.

Employees will continue to benefit from their employment rights, as they can choose to reject the offer of a settlement agreement and proceed to a tribunal.

It will empower employers by enabling them to keep their workforce flexible and encouraging alternative ways of solving workplace problems rather than resorting to a tribunal.

Employers will now be able to have pre-termination discussions with their employees which will remain confidential (“protected conversations”) and will not be admissible as evidence before an Employment Tribunal, unless there is improper behaviour or undue pressure involved in the discussions.

Employers will be required to give the employee a minimum of 10 working days to consider any offers made for the termination of their employment. Failure to do so would be regarded as undue pressure when the discussion would lose its protection and become admissible as evidence in any Employment Tribunal claim.

Employers should however continue to be cautious when discussing termination of employment as protected conversations do not apply to:

• Automatically unfair dismissals (such as whistleblowing)
• Discrimination, harassment or victimisation
• Claims relating to breach of contract or wrongful dismissal
• Where there has been a breach of the ACAS Code, i.e. improper behaviour

1. Confidentiality provisions (protected conversations)

2. Improper behaviour (what constitutes as such)

3. Legally binding terms (how to ensure documents are correct)

4. Waivers (conditions)

5. Voluntary agreement (parties do not have to accept)

6. Negotiations (proposals and counter proposals)

7. Exceptions to the agreements (EXAMPLE: whistleblowing)

8. Suitable time to consider (benchmark of 10 days)

Employment Law changes – September 2013

On 1 September 2013, a new kind of employment contract – the employee-shareholder contract – was introduced. Employee-shareholders will benefit from tax advantages on shares worth between £2,000 and £50,000 that they receive from their employer.  A summary of the changes taking place are detailed below:

• Not all employees who have shares in their employer’s business will be employed under an employee-shareholder contract
• The tax advantage applies only to shares of a certain value
• Not all employment rights are surrendered
• Employee-shareholders will still be able to claim unfair dismissal in some cases
• Employees cannot be forced to transfer to employee-shareholder status

Employment Law changes – 1st October 2013

From 1st October 2013 we will see a number of changes to employment law.  A summary of some of the changes taking place are detailed below as well as proposed changes further ahead.

National minimum wage increases

• 21 and over: increase to £6.31 per hour
• 18-20 year olds: increase to £5.03 per hour
• 16-17 year olds: increase to £3.72 per hour
• Apprentices: increase to £2.68 per hour

• The harassment takes place in the course of employment;
• The employer fails to take reasonably practicable steps to prevent the harassment; and
• The employer knew about at least two other occasions on which the employee had been harassed by a third party.

With this in mind, organisations are encouraged to give adequate thought to the scoring process. One example would be regarding ‘redundancy selection pools’. In such circumstances, going forward, you will need to be able to demonstrate fair and thorough rationale has been applied.

Particular attention should be given in identifying specific requirements of the business, without automatically turning attentions to reducing the wage bill.

• Changes to TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings – Protection of Employment)
• Flexible working for all employees
• New approach to managing sickness absence

If you would like advice or help with resolving any workplace disputes or would like to make a comment about this newsletter, please email us at julie.ware@peoplebusiness.co.uk or call us on 01932-874-944. You can also respond at http://www.people-insight.blogspot.com