Under reg. 14 of the Information and Consultation Regulations 2004 (the 2004 Regulations), an employer is obliged to invite representatives to enter into negotiations to reach an information and consultation (I&C) agreement as soon as reasonably practicable. The employer is not obliged to issue the invitation within a three-month period after the date on which a valid employee request was made to negotiate an I&C agreement: Darnton v Bournemouth University [EAT/0058/09].
Paragraph 31 of the Information and Consultation Regulations 2004: DTI Guidance (January 2006) states that:
“Following an employee request to negotiate an I&C agreement ….. the employer should initiate negotiations with representatives of the employees as soon as reasonably practicable, and within 3 months at the latest.”
The EAT said that the word “should” in paragraph 31 suggested that it could have been intended to state an expectation of the employer rather than a legal obligation. However, the paragraph was legally wrong if it meant to say that an employer had a legal obligation to “initiate negotiations with representatives of the employees ….. within 3 months at the latest.”
Also see Penalty of £10,000 for breaching Information and Consultation laws.
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