Good News for 2012

Before Christmas, Vince Cable announced a plethora of possible employment law changes, designed to redress perceived pro-employee imbalance.  Nikki Duncan, an employment partner at Michelmores LLP, assesses whether these were simply headline-grabbing sops to struggling businesses, or whether 2012 will indeed be an easier year legally for employers.

In April the unfair dismissal qualifying period will almost certainly rise, from one to two years.  In addition the limits for Employment Tribunal (ET) costs awards, and deposit limits, will be raised.  Both these changes are designed to reduce a number of ET claims in the system.

A change in the unfair dismissal threshold is, however, likely to spark increased use of the various types of employment claims where there is no qualifying period at all.  Also the, significant, February increases in the Tribunal award limits will make successful claims more costly.

However, the Government are also planning early consultation on numerous other proposals designed to help employers deal with employment issues more quickly, and simply.

These include a review of the ACAS disciplinary and grievance codes, with a view to simpler disciplinary and dismissal procedures.  That change, coupled with scope for "protected conversations", and simpler compromise agreements, should well help employers deal with issues more quickly, and with less fear of litigation, provided the legal changes made are sufficiently clear to minimise scope for satellite litigation. 

Where matters cannot be resolved internally, the Government's idea of introducing a rapid resolution scheme for low value, more straightforward cases, may also assist, although introduction may be a little way off.

More immediately, there is likely to be a filter system, whereby potential ET claimants will be encouraged to use the one month "early conciliation" service to be offered by ACAS before any ET claim can even be lodged.

April should also bring welcome amendments to the Working Time Regulations, to address some of the messy legal uncertainties around overlapping holiday and sickness/family leave.

In the meantime the Government will this month complete its call for evidence on the effectiveness of TUPE and collective redundancy consultation requirements.  They will then press ahead with formal consultation on changes designed to provide clarification on current areas of uncertainty, and to permit shorter consultation periods for large redundancy programmes. 

Needless to say, such far-reaching proposals will not go through without considerable opposition from Unions and other pro-employee bodies.  Nevertheless there is undoubtedly the political will to push ahead with many of these proposals in 2012.  More (including fees for Tribunal claims) will then follow in 2013, - perhaps along with further tweaks to any 2012 changes that have been rushed through too quickly!

Overall therefore, 2012 does look to be a better year for employers, although businesses will need to have a weather eye to the detail. They will also need to remain abreast of the ongoing legal developments, e.g. around unlawful discrimination & equal pay, which are unlikely to be effected by those proposals.

For further information, please email nikki.duncan@michelmores.com or telephone 01392 688688.