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Public Knowledge - The HR and Employment Law Newsletter from Morgen HR
June Edition
In this edition:
Morgen launch South Coast Office
Morgen HR are delighted to announce the launch of their South Coast office.
As Managing Director Helen Lawrence explained "HR isn't just a local business. We already have clients all over the country and really wanted to demonstrate that we can offer support, training and employment law advice across a very wide area. The levels of service and the number of services we are able to offer will also increase as we work together with our Bournemouth office".
New HR & Employment Law Forum
Embracing the benefits of the internet has always been part of Morgen HR's strategy and this has taken a massive leap forward now with the launch of their HR & Employment Law forum.
Put simply, if you have a 'quick question' that you need answered on any HR or Employment Law matter, you can enter the details of the question in the forum and, as soon as possible, Helen or one of team will answer you, as well as advising whether you should take more specialist advice.
Helen explains "in no way does this replace the specialist advice that we, and other HR specialists offer, but what it does do is give any business the opportunity to find out if there is a 'quick fix' answer or whether they need to invest or further advice. I've got over twenty years experience in HR and it might just be that I can correct a misunderstanding or point someone in the right direction for the advice that they need."
You can access the new forum by clicking HERE
ACAS consults on revised discipline and grievance code
ACAS has launched a consultation on revisions to its statutory code of practice on discipline and grievance to take account of the forthcoming abolition of the statutory dispute resolution procedures.
The new code of practice is designed to complement the removal of the statutory procedures, which is being done through the Employment Bill. The Bill includes measures giving employment tribunals the power to amend awards where the statutory code has not been complied with.
The Government plans to introduce the changes in workplace dispute resolution in April 2009 and the revised code is expected to come into effect at the same time. ACAS is also planning to publish full, non-statutory guidance providing supporting information on handling workplace disciplinary and grievance issues.
This year promises to be every bit as eventful in employment law terms as the last. So what is it likely to hold in store? Expect major case law decisions relating to equal pay, religious discrimination, holiday entitlement, agency workers and retirement. Legislation will also feature. We may see the implementation of the - somewhat disappointing - Discrimination Law Review, but what we can certainly expect is legislation heralding the end of the statutory dispute resolution procedures.
The new Employment Bill was published in December 2007. Much of the Bill is concerned with enforcement of the national minimum wage and rather modest changes to the regulation of agency workers. The really interesting provisions are, however, very straightforward. Section 1 of the Bill repeals the statutory dispute resolution procedures, while s.2 repeals the provisions on procedural fairness in unfair dismissal cases. There are no provisions replacing the statutory procedures with another scheme or providing for separate treatment of procedurally unfair dismissal. It therefore seems that the government has decided to return the law on unfair dismissal to that in existence prior to October 2004.
This is very welcome and my new year's resolution is not to draw attention to the embarrassment that having to repeal completely the procedures that have been at the heart of its approach to employment law since 2002 must be causing the government. Its press release announcing the Bill says that it will "encourage more workplace disputes to be resolved earlier and informally". Given that this is precisely what the introduction of the statutory dispute resolution procedures was intended to achieve, the fact that the same claim is being made for their repeal indicates just how unsuccessful they were. But let's draw a veil over this and concentrate on what happens next.
This is not a controversial Bill and is likely to make its way through parliament with a minimum of fuss. Implementation should be straightforward, so will we see the repeal of the statutory procedures taking effect in 2008?
Don't bank on it. Section 3 of the Bill makes an amendment to the provisions in the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 that authorise ACAS (and the secretary of state) to issue codes of practice promoting the improvement of industrial relations. Under the new provisions, where there is a breach of a relevant code of practice, a tribunal can increase or decrease any award made by up to 25%. ACAS will be revising its Code of practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures to take account of the repeal of the statutory procedures, and we can expect a great deal of interest from both sides of industry in what goes into the new code. The ACAS code has always been important, but for the first time a breach of it could lead to an increase (or decrease) in the compensation awarded by the tribunal.
This is a welcome development. An ACAS code of practice should have some teeth. My only grumble with the proposal is that, to be covered by this provision, a code must relate "to the procedure to be followed in the resolution of disputes". This is a vague phrase. A grievance procedure may fit this description but I don't think that a disciplinary procedure does. It is to be hoped that a better form of words can be found as the Bill makes its way through parliament.
I would not expect the government to repeal the dispute resolution procedures until the new ACAS code is ready to be implemented. ACAS will need to publish a draft for consultation before a final version is submitted to the secretary of state to be laid before parliament. I doubt that all of this could happen before October of this year, so my money is on the procedures being repealed from April 2009.
That means that we can expect a full year of case law relating to the current system of dispute resolution procedures. While this will be depressing for all concerned, there will be lots of other, more fruitful, areas to concentrate on in 2008, and we look forward to keeping you up to date and well informed as the year goes by.
Government announces rules for skilled foreign workers
The Government has announced its proposals for strict rules for the recruitment of skilled foreign workers. Skilled foreign workers come within tier 2 of the Government's Points Based System, which is currently being rolled out. The Government has published a statement of intent, setting out in detail how the skilled migrant tier will work. Under the proposals employers will have to show that they can not fill vacancies for skilled workers from the resident workforce. In most cases migrants who wish to work in the UK will need a job offer before they apply for a visa. They will also need to be able to achieve a certain number of points before they can work.
Proposals for rules on the employment of temporary, or tier 5, workers have also been published. Tiers 2 and 5 are to be introduced this autumn. Tier 1 for highly skilled migrants was introduced in February.
Please contact us for a draft copy of the Skilled Workers under the Points based System (Tier 2) - Statement of Intent.
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