Employment Act 2008 brings changes for 2009

The Employment Act 2008 is due to come into force on 6 April 2009. This means that from April this year the mandatory and unpopular statutory dispute resolution procedures which have caused so much uncertainty since 2004, will be repealed.

In response to this change, ACAS have published a Code of Practice for disciplinary and grievance procedures which will replace the statutory procedures and will be mandatory for Employers to follow from April 2009 when taking disciplinary action or dealing with grievances.

So what does this mean for Employers?

•  A failure to follow the Code will not make an employee's dismissal automatically unfair; but

•  Employment Tribunals will take the Code into account when considering relevant cases and may increase an employees compensation by up to 25% where the Club has unreasonably failed to comply with the Code or reduce it by up to 25% where the employee has unreasonably failed to comply with the Code.

The Code places greater emphasis on early dispute resolution. Parties are encouraged to seek to resolve disciplinary and grievance issues at an early stage and where this is not possible they are urged to 'consider using the services of an independent third party' to help resolve issues such as are provided by a workplace mediator. It is possible that a failure to use early dispute resolution in particular cases will be treated by the Employment Tribunals as an unreasonable failure to comply with the Code.

Other changes introduced by the Act include:

•  extending ACAS's duty to conciliate between parties;

•  allowing Employment Tribunals to determine proceedings without hearing cases where all parties

consent in writing, or where the respondent employer has presented no response;

•  The minimum statutory holiday entitlement will increase to 28 days (including bank holidays) for full time employees and the standard rate for statutory maternity, paternity, adoption and sickness pay will increase;

•  The right to request time off for training is introduced and the right to request flexible working and time off for public duties is extended;

•  Employers will be prevented from including gratuities to top up staff pay in order to meet the national minimum wage; and

•  Maternity and Paternity pay and Paternity leave will be extended.

It is hoped that the changes to the statutory procedures will dilute the complexities that they have caused in previous years and that the changes will encourage resolution at an early stage. With so many changes to consider, we would suggest that you take legal advice on all contracts, policies and procedures to make sure they are up to date and that your Company is not at risk of expensive claims from disgruntled employees.

Please note that George Davies Solicitors LLP provide Mediation Services. Please contact Sara Barrett email: sarabarrett@georgedavies.co.uk for further information.