Employment Law Update

The Dispute Resolution Regulations are soon to be replaced by an ACAS Code of Practice. Currently, if an employer is considering taking disciplinary action against you, including dismissal, or you are considering raising concerns about your employment, dispute resolution procedures must be followed.

However, there has long been unrest concerning the application of this law. Practitioners feel that, despite good intention behind the introduction of these procedures, they have been inflexible and, ultimately, unsuccessful, creating increased, more complex litigation.This situation has been reviewed and the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) Discipline and Grievance Code of Practice has been approved by the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

It will be placed before Parliament and will hopefully be in force from 6th April 2009. The Code operates in a similar way to the statutory provisions but, unlike those provisions, employers will not be obliged to follow the Code, or to follow any procedure. At the moment, if an employer does not follow the statutory dismissal procedure, any dismissal will be automatically unfair.

The dismissed employee is then entitled to uplift compensation awarded by between 10% and 50%. The ACAS Code will have a similar part to play under the Employment Bill when it becomes law. Although automatic unfair dismissal will be repealed, the Bill proposes that Employment Tribunals have the right to increase an award by up to 25% if an employer has failed to follow the Code.

It is hoped that the effect of this Code will introduce more flexibility and reduce bureaucracy for employers without curtailing employees' rights.