People who win awards against their former employers at employment tribunals have been given new powers to get their money.

From next month they can use High Court enforcement officers to do the job.

They will be available to chase employers who may have sacked staff unfairly or discriminated against them.

The Ministry of Justice said the new powers were needed because a large minority of employers do not pay up after losing a tribunal hearing.

“Research published by the Ministry of Justice in May 2009 showed 39% of people granted awards by tribunals had not been paid and only 53% were paid in full,” they said.

The new procedure is called the Employment Tribunal Fast Track scheme and starts on 6 April.

The enforcement officers are the High Court equivalent of County Court bailiffs.

Employing them will cost just the normal £50 court fee, while the usual enforcement officer fee of £70.50 charged in the event on non-recovery will be waived.

Payment of the court fee will trigger action by the officers, which can include seizure of any assets of the employer to cover the money owed.

Since April 2009, the Ministry of Justice has been putting the names of defaulting employers on a public register to name and shame them and make sure they pay up.

There are now more than 570 people and companies on it.

“The Government is determined to ensure people are not denied access to justice by a small minority of unscrupulous individuals or companies who refuse to respect the award,” said Justice Minister Bridget Prentice.

“The Fast Track will ensure all recipients can pursue their awards with ease.”

Friday, 26 March 2010

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8589695.stm

The completion of the Equality Bill’s third reading in the House of Lords was welcomed by the legislation’s champion, the Minister for Women and Equality, Harriet Harman.

The Bill, which requires businesses to report on the pay gap between men and women and will outlaw age discrimination, will now return to the House of Commons, where MP’s will consider amendments made by the Lords.

These include adding a power to outlaw caste discrimination, removing the prohibition on Civil Partnerships taking place in religious premises and introducing a ban on asking for health and disability information prior to making a job offer.

Ms Harman said: “This is a historic piece of legislation that contains a range of new rights, powers and obligations to help the drive towards equality, including tackling the overarching inequality caused by where you are born and what your parents do for a living.”

More information on the Equality Bill, including full details of all amendments made by the House of Lords, can be found at http://www.equalities.gov.uk/equality_bill.aspx.

“After the Bill is passed,” Ms Harman said, “we will set to work implementing and enforcing it, putting equality firmly at the centre of Government.”

Croner News, 25 March 2010

http://www.croner-i.croner.co.uk

2010 could be ‘catch up time’ for those areas of the private sector that remain highly unionised. Although this recession has been characterised with a rise in concessionary bargaining between employers, unions and employees, negotiations are becoming much tougher with employees looking to recoup the pay losses they have suffered in the past year.

Commenting on the discussion paper, Peter Harwood, Acas Chief Conciliator says: “As the private sector deals with the impact of the recession on it’s workforce, the public sector is also preparing for significant cuts. It is essential that employers, managers, and trade union representatives improve communication and engagement, so that potential issues that may cause conflict are aired and listened to and early action taken.”

Acas has launched a new discussion paper – Riding out the storm: managing conflict in a recession and beyond. For more information visit www.acas.org.uk.

http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2898

Wednesday, 31 March 2010

Police officers and staff should endure a freeze on pay to protect front-line services and jobs, the CBI has said.

The business group also backed a government White Paper, which claimed savings could be made by sharing resources.

Some 80% of spending in all 43 forces goes on the police wage bill, the BBC has reported.

Pay is currently negotiated independently on a national level, with salary levels depending on length of service and seniority. But the CBI has said pay should be related to performance.

The government White Paper published last year called on police forces to claw back £100m of spending this year, rising to £545m annually by 2014.

The Police Service is about to enter the final year of a three-year pay deal, ending in early 2011.

Shadow Chancellor George Osborne has previously warned the Tories would review three-year pay deals across the public sector if they were elected this year, including those for police officers.

www.personneltoday.com, 31 March 2010

http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2010/03/31/55076/police-pay-should-be-frozen-to-protect-front-line-services-and-jobs-says-cbi.html

A new discussion paper from Acas, the employment relations service, is predicting how workplace conflicts could evolve as the UK emerges from the recession.

With employers and employees still facing a continued period of uncertainty, the discussion paper reviews the impact the current recession has had on employment relations and considers how workplace conflicts could be triggered by new and different touch points in the future. It also discusses how conflicts might manifest themselves in new ways.

Some of the key predictions include:

PENSION PROBLEMS
Pensions are likely to become even more of a hotspot for employment relations in the private and public sector. Although it is not something appearing on the collective bargaining agenda at the moment this may well change, as companies seek to close schemes to existing, as well as new, members.

UNOFFICIAL ACTION via SOCIAL MEDIA
There has been an emergence of forms of collective action that were not evident in the previous recession, namely ‘wildcat strikes’. One common factor in these actions has been the use of technology - emails, text messaging and social networking sites, enabling demonstrators to organise rapidly amongst the workforce and the local community.

The lack of official leadership in such disputes means negotiating with this group can be complex and a resolution harder to achieve.

ADDRESSING HIDDEN CONFLICT
Another worrying trend to result from the recession is the growth of more hidden manifestations of conflict including bullying and harassment, stress, loss of trust, lower levels of engagement. These symptoms often escape official statistics because they are not expressed through the official channels of strike action, employment tribunals or even formal grievances.

Instead this type of discontent can fester in the workplace ultimately causing costs to employers in the form of higher absence rates, increased turnover and diverted management time. There can also be serious implications for the health and well-being of employees if these problems are not effectively dealt with.

Wednesday, 31 March 2010

[Thanks to www.emplaw.co.uk for allowing us to summarise their article. For the full text of the original article, please click here]

The House of Lords has approved various draft regulations pertaining to the new right to paternity leave. The most important is the Additional Paternity Leave Regulations 2010, which specify that additional paternity leave will be for a maximum of 26 weeks and minimum of 2 weeks, that it must not start until at least 20 weeks after the birth or placement for adoption and must end no later than 12 months after the birth or placement for adoption, and that it may only be taken in multiples of complete weeks.

The regulations are due to come into force on 6th April 2010 but will have effect only in relation to children whose expected week of birth (or matching for adoption) begins on or after 3rd April 2011.

Under the regulations fathers will be entitled to up to six months additional paternity leave provided the mother has returned to work, thus giving parents the option of dividing a period of paid leave entitlement between them. To the extent that additional paternity leave is taken during the mother’s 39 week maternity pay period it will be paid leave, paid at the same rate and in the same way as Statutory Maternity Pay (which increases in April 2010 to £124.88 per week from the currrent £123.06). Parents will be required to ’self certify’ by providing details of their eligibility to their employer. Employers and HMRC will both be able to carry out further checks of entitlement if necessary.

Daniel Barnett, Wednesday, 24 March 2010

New figures released by the employment relations service Acas have revealed that the number of businesses and employees trying to avoid employment tribunal claims has continued to rise in recent months.

Monthly calls to the Acas helpline, which have resulted in being referred to the early conciliation service - pre-claim conciliation (PCC) – have almost doubled since September 2009. The free service aims to settle workplace issues that could escalate to an expensive tribunal.

By the end of February, 8,304 PCC referrals had been made from the Acas helpline since the service was launched to accompany changes to the Employment Act in April last year. Acas estimates that over 5,000 tribunal claims have been avoided already.

Rising demand for the service has resulted in a steady increase in referrals culminating in over 2,700 in the last quarter of 2009. The first quarter of 2010 is on track to exceed this figure by at least 20 per cent. At the moment around 300 referrals are being received every week on average, and Acas expects this number to rise to about 400 during 2010.

Commenting on the figures, Ed Sweeney, Acas chair, said: “This data indicates that workers and employers are increasingly taking steps to avoid employment tribunals. The current economic climate has created difficult workplace challenges for managers, HR professionals and employees.

“The earlier issues can be sorted out, the more likely people will remain in productive employment in the workplace. The service is quick. Over half of all resolved cases are completed in around three weeks instead of the six to nine months that most tribunal claims take.

“We have a responsibility to support the economic recovery by resolving workplace disputes early on and in doing so, avoiding costly, stressful and time consuming employment tribunals.”

The PCC service was launched in April 2009 alongside the new Acas Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures following the Government’s Dispute Resolution Review in 2007.

www.acas.org.uk

Scottish Legal News, 19 March 2010