12 June 2013

Employment Law News Roundup

The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 brings many serious changes to the tribunal system and employment law generally this year. So here is a handy summary of what is coming into force and most importantly, when.

Changes to Whistleblowing Provisions

From 25 June 2013 there will be alterations to the provisions relating to whistleblowing, also known as the making of a protected disclosure. This is an important aspect of employment law as where the principal reason for a dismissal is because a worker made a protected disclosure then the two year qualifying period for claiming unfair dismissal does not apply.

The first key change is that whistleblowing protection is now confined to those who make disclosures which ‘in the reasonable belief of the worker are made in the public interest'. There will also be a removal of the requirement for such disclosures to be made in ‘good faith'. What this means is that a worker can make a disclosure out of spite but any award made by the tribunal for such ‘bad faith' disclosures may be reduced by up to 25%.

There will also be a further change in that employers can now be held to be vicariously liable for actions taken against a whistle blower by another employee.

Political Opinion and Affiliation Dismissals become Automatically Unfair

Past caselaw has not protected BNP members from dismissal because of their political beliefs. From 25 June 2013 that changes in that the two year qualifying period for unfair dismissal will no longer apply in cases of political affiliation or belief. This applies to dismissals that take effect after the implementation date of 25 June and employers should therefore be much more cautious when dealing with employees whose political beliefs impact on the workplace.

Financial Penalties on Employers

For claims presented on or after the 25 October 2013 where an Employment Tribunal decides that an employer has breached any worker's rights and considers that such a breach has an "aggravating factor", then it may order the employer to pay a penalty to the Secretary of State of between £100 and £5,000. As with a council parking ticket the penalty is halved if paid within 21 days of the decision being sent to the employer. At present it is not entirely clear as to what may or may not constitute an "aggravating factor".

Costs for Claimants

On the other hand, from 29th July Claimants will have to pay a fee to start a claim, and a further fee before the claim will be allowed to proceed to a full hearing. It is to be hoped that will prevent some of the more "misconceived" claims that employers have to deal with, although there is provision for waiving the fee if the Claimant does not have the means to pay.