Welcome to the latest employment law update from the team at Integra
REMINDER: Don’t forget its less than two weeks to our employment law and pensions auto-enrolment update seminar on 26th March with Veracity Financial Planning. There are still spaces available so for more details or to book a place take a look at http://www.integralegal.co.uk/news/employment-law-news/employment-law-and-pensions-auto-enrolment-update/
The spring is a busy time of year for employment lawyers and a number of significant changes to the law have been made or are about to be made. New law which employers need to be aware of includes:
Changes to TUPE. A whole raft of changes to TUPE started coming into effect at the end of January. Key changes are:
- The definition of service provision change has been changed to clarify that the activities carried on after the change must be “fundamentally or essentially the same” as they were before a service provision change to occur.
- Changes in the location of the workforce following a transfer will be within the scope of economic, technical or organisational reasons entailing changes in the workforce.
- For transfers which take place on or after 1 May 2014 the obligation to provide employee liability information will be extended to 28 days before the transfer (currently it is 14 days).
- For transfers which take place on or after 31 July 2014 micro businesses (with 10 or fewer employees) will be able to inform and consult affected employees directly when there are no recognised independent union or appropriate representatives.
Mandatory early conciliation. This is being introduced on a voluntary basis from 6 April 2014 and will be compulsory for the vast majority of Employment Tribunal claims which are submitted on or after 6 May 2014. This includes a new duty on ACAS, employers and employees to attempt conciliation before an Employment Tribunal claim is submitted. In most cases an employee (or ex employee) will not be allowed to commence a claim without a certificate from ACAS to confirm conciliation has been attempted. The time limit for bringing claims will be put on hold while early conciliation occurs.
Financial penalties for employers. From 6 April 2014 Employment Tribunals will have the power to fine an employer up to £5,000 (payable to the Government) if they lose their case in Tribunal and there are one or more “aggravating features”.
Discrimination questionnaires abolished. For acts of discrimination occurring on or after 6 April 2014 the procedure for discrimination questionnaires set out in the Equality Act 2010 will be abolished. This will be replaced by ACAS Guidance on asking and responding to questions of discrimination in the workplace. A Tribunal will no longer be able to draw adverse inferences from a failure to answer questions properly. ACAS has suggested that the Tribunal may treat a failure to answer as a “contributory factor” when deciding whether discrimination has taken place.
Annual increase in limits. For dismissals or events which occur on or after 6 April 2014 the maximum basic award for unfair dismissal cases will increase to £76,574 (or a year’s gross pay, whichever is less). A “week’s pay” for statutory purposes, including calculation of statutory redundancy payments, will also increase to £464 from this date.
Flexible working requests. The extension of the right to request flexible working to all employees has been delayed. Current thinking is that this will now be introduced at the end of June 2014. Whilst any employee will be able to request flexible working, and not just those with children or certain categories of carers, the statutory procedure for requesting flexible working is to be abolished. It will be replaced by a duty to deal with requests reasonably and within a reasonable time period.
These changes and more, including recent case law employers should know about, will feature in our update seminar on 26 March 2014. Don’t forget to book a place go to http://www.integralegal.co.uk/news/employment-law-news/employment-law-and-pensions-auto-enrolment-update/
To discuss the new law or any employee issue get in touch at contact@integralegal.co.uk or 0115 987 6790.