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Rebecca Seeley Harris of Seeley (Legal) Solutions provides the second of her series of legal briefings for directors, as part of AccountingWEB's Business Management Zone service. Here, Rebecca summarises the key points from the new Employment Act. The Employment Act 2002, which received Royal Assent in July 2002, is said by the Government to be "a balanced package of support for working parents, while reducing red tape for employers". That will remain to be seen as the package of reforms are enacted but, in any case, most of the reforms will not come into force until 2003. The three main areas are:
Miscellaneous measures include:
The table for enactment is:
Statutory Leave and Pay for Maternity, Paternity and Adoption The consultation on these draft regulations has already been completed and changes include extending maternity leave and introducing paid paternity and adoption leave. The changes will take place in April 2003. Tribunal Reform The consultation on these draft regulations will take place in late 2002. The proposals are aimed at improving communications and conciliation. thereby reducing the increasing volume of Employment Tribunal applications. Measures will be considered for improving the chances of disputes being resolved before tribunal ideally in the workplace. Statutory Dispute Resolution Controversial new measures are being considered to introduce a statutory minimum requirement for grievance and disciplinary measures. The Employment Tribunals will be given power to vary an award of compensation where either an employee or employer has failed to use the measures. Fixed-Term Work The Act contains the enabling provisions for the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations to be enacted. These will come into force on 1st October 2002. The corresponding amendments to the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000 will also come into force on 1st October. The new regulations are intended to prevent the less favourable treatment of fixed-term employees compared with their permanently employed colleagues. A statutory maximum of four years will be placed on the use of successive fixed-term contracts after which time the employee must be made permanent, unless there is an objectively justifiable reason not to. Fixed-term employees will be given the same employment rights upon termination of a contract as an employee; will not have to waive their statutory right to receive redundancy payments on a contract of two years or more; will have the right to request a written statement of reasons for less favourable treatment; and dismissal, as a result of a fixed-term worker attempting to enforce their statutory rights, will be automatically unfair. The new regulations will apply only to 'employees' and do not extend to the broader category of 'worker' or to apprentices, agency workers or some trainees. Other Proposals From 6 April 2003, subject to Parliamentary approval, parents of children aged under six or of disabled children aged under 18 will have the right to apply to work flexibly. This is not an automatic right but, employers will have a statutory duty to consider their applications seriously. An Equal Pay Questionnaire will be introduced to simplify and speed up the tribunal process by making it easier for individuals to request key information from their employer to help decide whether to bring a case or not. The Act introduces a new statutory right to time off for trade union
learning representatives (ULRs) to ensure that they are adequately trained
to carry out their duties. |
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