Employees to pay a fee for filing a Tribunal claim
The government has announced that it is considering placing a charge on employees who wish to file a claim at Tribunal. This is intended to prevent vexatious claims creeping into the Tribunal system, wasting both time and money for all concerned. Many employers will be pleased with this news having sampled first hand the inconvenience, stress and costs of such claims being permitted to sail through to Tribunal. However, there are concerns that levying such a charge at the outset will discourage some of the genuine claims from proceeding.
The government has issued a consultation paper which will be reviewed in the spring. It proposes that the charge for filing a claim, yet to be proposed but expected to be up to £500, will be reimbursed to the employee should they win their case. However, some critics argue that placing this financial hurdle in the employee’s path will go against the principle that every employee should have the right to present their claim to a Tribunal and have access to justice.
Employers to be fined for losing at Tribunal
Many employers are confused with the true intentions of government which has recently announced that although it wishes to support business through this difficult economic period, it plans to charge employers who lose Tribunal claims. Claims cost on average £8,500 to reach Tribunal and just over half of this amount to settle. With this further charge being proposed, settlement prior to Tribunal will become an increasingly attractive option to employers. It is expected that if such charges are introduced, employers may have to pay a fine of between £100 and £5,000 with a reduction of 50% being applied for fines paid within 21 days.
Unfair dismissal qualification set to rise to two years
Currently, employees only have to have one year of service to be able to make a claim for unfair dismissal. The government has announced plans to increase this to two years. Whilst this is good news for many employers, there are concerns that this will be a step backwards in trying to secure rights for employees in the workplace. Employees will certainly be unhappy if this reform is introduced and it may be that they will look at other potential claims they could make at Tribunal if they are unable to claim for unfair dismissal. However, if this reform is twinned with the reform to introduce fees for lodging a claim at Tribunal, any potentially fruitless claims may be filtered out.
Bribery Act 2010 delayed
The implementation of the Act, set to be introduced in April 2011, has been delayed once again. The preparation of guidance in relation to the Act has not yet been completed but the government has advised that the Act should be ready for implementation in August 2011.
