Vince Cable has today announced what could be described as the biggest reform of employment law for decades.
These proposals will no doubt be welcomed by employers and include the following:
- Protected conversations – employers should be able to hold a frank conversation with employees about matters including poor performance and retirement without the fear of this being used against them as evidence in Tribunal. These conversations will not allow employers to abuse this right and an employee's Day 1 rights, such as protection against discrimination, will remain intact;
- Shortening of redundancy consultation period – A call for evidence on consultation for reducing the collective consultation period from 90 days to potentially 30 days;
- ACAS – a requirement for all claims to go through conciliation before reaching the tribunal;
- "Rapid Resolution" – more options for simple straightforward cases to be settled within three months;
- Tribunal reforms – including the removal of witness expenses and unfair dismissal claims to be heard by an Employment Judge sitting alone;
- Compromise agreements – simplification of this process, including a minimum agreed amount where parties agree a mutual termination of employment.
These proposals complement a package of reforms introduced by the government to help create an environment for businesses to thrive and for entrepreneurs to take on staff without the fear of being taken to tribunal including: an increase in the unfair dismissal qualifying period from one to two years, to take effect from April next year; and the introduction of Tribunal fees ( click here for our recent update on Tribunal fees).
However, these proposals have been criticised by the TUC who have argued that this will create a "hire and fire culture" and make it even harder for workers with genuine cases of victimisation, bullying and unfairness at work to bring a claim.
As always, the devil is in the detail and we will have to wait to see the response to the consultation on these proposals.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
We operate a free-to-view policy, asking only that you register in order to read all of our content. Please login or register to view the rest of this article.