21 December 2002

KEEBLE HAWSON

www.keeblehawson.co.uk

E-MAIL UPDATE

EMPLOYMENT ACT - DISPUTES

The Employment Act 2002 introduces new statutory procedures for dismissal, disciplinary and grievance procedures. These are important changes although they will not become law until May 2003 at the very earliest.

The procedures may be summarised as follows:-

Meetings - All dismissals will have to be preceded by a meeting with the employee. This will apply to all dismissals, not just disciplinary dismissals. Therefore dismissals resulting from redundancy, poor performance or long-term sickness will have to be preceded by a meeting.

Right of Appeal -

There will always be a right of appeal against a dismissal. Currently appeals are usually limited to disciplinary cases but in future this right will be extended to dismissals for redundancy for example.
No paper appeals - All appeals will have to involve meetings at which the employee can explain their case.
Written grievances must be raised - An employee who fails to raise written grievances cannot rely on those grievances in future claims. Therefore if an employee complains to an employment tribunal about a grievance he could have raised with the employer, but failed to do so, then the employment tribunal will not hear that complaint.

A modified procedure will be used in extreme cases of gross misconduct, for example those involving violence or serious criminal wrong doing.

Step 1: statement of grounds for action
The employer must send to the employee a written statement setting out:

the alleged misconduct which has led to the dismissal,
what the basis was for thinking at the time of the dismissal that the employee was guilty of the alleged misconduct, and the right to appeal against dismissal.

Step 2: appeal
If the employee does wish to appeal, he or she must inform the employer and the employer must then invite the employee to attend a meeting. The employee must take all reasonable steps to attend the meeting.

After the appeal meeting the employer must inform the employee of his final decision.

The following requirements must be adhered to in either of the procedures, so far as is applicable:

Each step and action under the procedure must be taken without unreasonable delay.

Timing and location of meetings must be reasonable.

Meetings must be conducted in a manner that enables both employer and employee to explain their cases.

In the case of appeal meetings which are not the first meeting, the employer should, if possible, be represented by a more senior manager than attended the first meeting.

The government intends to issue regulations to set out further details about the procedures in due course.

If the employer does not follow the procedures then the employee will be able to pursue a claim of unfair dismissal. If this claim is successful then the Tribunal will be obliged to increase the level of any award to the employee. The standard level of adjustment for failing to follow the correct procedure will be 10%, although it can be as much as 50%.

This EMU is discussed in further detail along with other news and important updates in our autumn newsletter. If you wish to receive a copy of the autumn newsletter and subscribe to this service please contact Sarah Hall.

For more information contact:-
Sarah Hall
0114 290 6329
sarahhall@keeblehawson.co.uk

www.keeblehawson.co.uk

All our previous messages can be viewed in the library section of our website.

© Keeble Hawson. The content of these messages may not be reproduced without our permission

Disclaimer

Our EMU messages are provided for general interest and information only. While every effort is made to ensure that they provide an accurate statement of the law in England as at the date of their transmission, no liability is accepted for any loss or damage arising from any act or omission resulting from any message. The messages are not intended to constitute legal advice to any individual or organisation. If you believe that the content of any message is relevant to you, you are strongly urged to take specific legal advice as every case must be assessed on its own particular facts.