Key Employment Legislation : what you need to be aware of in 2012

Let's just get down to it. Here are key Employment Legislation that you need to be aware of in 2012


1. The qualifying period for unfair dismissal protection increases
The biggest change to employment rights in 2012 will be the increase of the qualifying period for an employee to bring an unfair dismissal claim, which will double from one year to two years. The change will take effect on 6 April 2012. The increase in the qualifying period is intended to give employers and employees more time to resolve any difficulties and reduce the number of unfair dismissal claims.

2. Pensions auto-enrolment begins
From 1 October 2012, new pension rules will begin to be phased in, requiring employers to enrol all eligible employees automatically and make compulsory employer contributions into a qualifying workplace pension scheme or the National Employment Savings Trust (Nest). The first wave of employers will be able to voluntarily start auto-enrolment as early as July 2012, and the legal requirement to enrol will be gradually rolled out between October 2012 and April 2017, starting with businesses with more than 120,000 employees

3. Changes to the employment tribunal procedure
The Government has announced a review of the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure, with significant changes expected to be introduced on 6 April 2012. Employment judges will hear unfair dismissal cases alone in the tribunal, unless they direct otherwise. The maximum amount of a deposit order, which a tribunal can order a party to pay as a condition to continuing with tribunal proceedings, will increase from £500 to £1,000. The maximum amount of a costs order, which a tribunal may award in favour of a legally represented party, will increase from £10,000 to £20,000.

4. Tribunal Fines
A proposal is being made to fine employers up to £5,000 (on top of damages) if they lose a tribunal case. The fine will be payable to the Exchequer and will be 50 per cent of the tribunal award, subject to a minimum of £100 and a maximum of £5,000. The proposed fine would not apply to employees, so it may be perceived as a revenue raising exercise, however, it could mean that even more cases are settled rather than going to a full hearing.

5. Statutory redundancy payments and guarantee payments increase
The maximum amount of a week’s pay used to calculate a statutory redundancy payment, and the basic and additional awards for unfair dismissal, increases from £400 to £430 on 1 February 2012. The maximum unfair dismissal compensatory award increases to £72,300; with the limit on the amount of a guarantee payment payable to an employee in respect of any day also increases from £22.20 to £23.50.

6. Maternity, paternity, adoption and sick pay increases
The Government has confirmed that the standard rate of statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay will increase from £128.73 to £135.45 per week from 1 April 2012. Statutory sick pay will increase from £81.60 to £85.85 per week from 6 April 2012.

7. Watch this space...
With consultations taking place for the introduction of employment tribunal fees, plans for the introduction of “protected conversations”, and calls for evidence over whether or not the law on TUPE and collective redundancy consultation should be amended, there will be a significant number of legal developments in the pipe- line this year. The Government has also announced that it will consult on reforming the law on employment disputes and removing the third-party harassment provisions of the Equality Act 2010, alongside a proposal to amend the existing Working Time legislation around carrying over holiday entitlement.


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Anticipated surge in discrimination claims

With The Equality Act coming into effect as of 1st October collating and replacing most existing discrimination legislation, the Act is likely to result in a surge of tribunal claims in the next few months. With the increase in protected characteristics from six to nine plus the introduction of protection from perceptive and associative discrimination it seems likely that employers are increasingly likely to be faced with a tribunal claim.

This is particularly worrying because the Tribunal Service has already reported a sharp increase in the number of claims placed, even before the introduction of the Act.

It is more important than ever to ensure policies covering equal opportunities and discrimination are up to date and to provide adequate training to managers on how to recognise and deal with potential issues before the escalate.

Richard Prentis, employment law consultant at Empire HR has been advising clients to be more alert than ever to the risk of a claim "The Equality Act obviously exposes employers to a greater risk of a claim because more people than ever will be protected by discrimination legislation. However, it is possibly to mitigate risks. Provided expert advice is sought, you should be well placed to defend such a claim".

Empire HR can provide support and assistance with managing employees who are protected by the Act. In the event that an employee does place a claim, the Empire HR Advocacy Unit can defend the claim and provide representation at tribunal.

Equality Act Reminder

The Equality Act 2010 came into effect at the beginning of this month.

The Act collates and changes several areas of discrimination legislation covering race, sex, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief, or age. The Act adopts a more consistent approach to discrimination – resulting in several key changes.

Some key changes that have come into effect as of 1st October 2010 are:

• Levelling up protection for people discriminated against because they are perceived to have, or are associated with someone who has, a protected characteristic, so providing new protection for people like carers
• Clearer protection for breastfeeding mothers
• Introducing a new concept of “discrimination arising from disability”
• Extending protection from 3rd party harassment to all protected characteristics
• Making it more difficult for disabled people to be unfairly screened out when applying for jobs, by restricting the circumstances in which employers can ask job applicants questions about disability or health
• Making pay secrecy clauses unenforceable
• Introducing new powers for employment tribunals to make recommendations which benefit the wider workforce
• Harmonising provisions allowing voluntary positive action

This list is not exhaustive but it does cover the area’s most likely to affect Empire HR clients. The Empire HR Bulletin has already addressed some of these changes. The July Bulletin explained how the Equality Act affects disability discrimination and the April Bulletin outlined the impact upon medical questionnaires. This edition focuses on secrecy clauses (see below). Empire HR will be keeping clients up to date on the implementation of the Equality Act. Don’t forget to check the Empire HR Facebook page or the Empire Wire for the latest information!