Consultation paper on workplace disputes

The Government has published a consultation paper about resolving workplace disputes. The consultation period will end on 20 April 2011.

The Government’s proposals set out in the consultation paper include:

Unfair dismissal: increasing the qualifying period for unfair dismissal from one year to two years.

Out of court settlements: such a settlement will be “paid in” to the tribunal if it is rejected by a claimant. If the tribunal makes a less favourable award to the claimant – there will be a mechanism for recognising the additional costs incurred by the employer – as a result of the tribunal hearing.

In G4S Security Services (UK) v Rondeau [EAT/0207/09], the EAT ordered Mr Rondeau to pay costs of £3,420 to the employer. Mr Rondeau had acted unreasonably – when he accepted the employer’s offer at the court’s door – but did not respond to the same offer that was made to him on two previous occasions.

Early ACAS conciliation: all tribunal claims must be sent to ACAS before they can go to the tribunal.

Expenses of witnesses/parties: withdrawing the payment of such expenses to encourage the parties to think carefully about the number of witnesses they call at a tribunal hearing.

New penalties for employers: a tribunal will automatically impose a financial penalty on an employer for any breach of employment rights. The penalty will be based on the total amount of the tribunal award.

The consultation paper is available on the BIS website.

The Government has also published an Employer’s Charter (EC). The EC does not say “anything that is new”.