Employment legislation - overview

Company polices and procedures

• Company policies and procedures must be made available to all staff.

• Employment tribunals are likely to rule in favour of an employee, if, company procedures have not been followed.

• An employment tribunal will also expect the Acas Code of Practice in respect of Disciplinary and Grievance procedures, to be followed in addition to any company policies.

•Recruitment•It is unlawful to discriminate against anyone when recruiting, from the time of placing a job advert.•Job adverts should not contain ‘minimum experience of 5 years required’ as this could discriminate against young people.•Candidates should not be shortlisted for interview, if they have less skills than someone who has not been shortlisted.•Unsuccessful candidates can ask to see all interview notes in respect to their application and an employment tribunal could ask to see all interview notes and applications from all candidates.

Employment legislation 1.

•Recruitment•It is unlawful to discriminate against anyone when recruiting, from the time of placing a job advert.•Job adverts should not contain ‘minimum experience of 5 years required’ as this could discriminate against young people.•Candidates should not be shortlisted for interview, if they have less skills than someone who has not been shortlisted.•Unsuccessful candidates can ask to see all interview notes in respect to their application and an employment tribunal could ask to see all interview notes and applications from all candidates.

Employment legislation 2.

Unfair dismissal – recent changes to legislation• The maximum that can be awarded for unfair dismissal has increased from £68,400

to £72,300, effective from 1st February 2012• From the 6th of April 2012 the qualifying period for an employee, to be eligible to have

a case heard at an employment tribunal, has increased from one year to two years.• In 2011 there was a 56% rise in tribunals which amounted to 240,000 cases.• It typically costs firms an average of £8,500 to defend a case at a tribunal and an

average award of £6,000 per employee.

Employment legislation 4.

• Discrimination awards• There is no qualifying period for employees to be eligible to be heard by an

employment tribunal in relation to discrimination. • There is no cap on amount awarded to employees.• Average awards for 2011 were:

• Age discrimination - £30,289, highest award being £144,000.• Disability discrimination - £14,137, highest award being £181,083• Sex discrimination - £13,911, highest award being £289,167• Race discrimination - £12,108, highest award being £62,580• Sexual orientation discrimination - £11,671, highest award being £47,633• Religious discrimination - £8515, highest award being £20,221

Employment legislation 5.

Data protection

Employers in breach of data protection legislation can have fines imposed on them by The Information Commissioner.

Previous penalties imposed:• Hertfordshire County Council £100,000• Employment Services Company £60,000

Employment legislation 6.

Right to work in the UK

Employers must check that employees are eligible to work in the UK, prior to employment commencing. Failure to do so may result in penalties being awarded.• imprisonment for up to two years and/or an unlimited fine• Employers can be fined up to £10,000 for each person employed who has

no legal right to work in the UK, whether or not the act is intentional.

Employment legislation 7.

Bribery Act

The act came in to force in July 2011. The law applies to both employers and employees and the penalties can be high for non compliance. Employers must have a zero tolerance policy in relation to bribery and they must ensure that all employees are aware of the bribery legislation. • If bribes are paid by or on behalf of a commercial organisation (either by employees

or agents acting on behalf of the organisation), the organisation can be prosecuted for its failure to prevent bribery. Fines are unlimited and an organisation may be disbarred from tendering for government contracts. Senior officers of the organisation may also face prosecution.

• If your employees breach the Act, they may face unlimited fines and/or a prison sentence of a maximum of 10 years

Employment legislation 8.

Agency workers

As from October 2011, temporary staff employed via an agency has the right to not be treated in a disadvantaged way to a permanent employee doing the same job. • Day one rights – access to all facilities and details of any vacancies.• The agency has responsibility for the second set of rights after a period of

12 weeks continues service, where terms and conditions must be the same as the comparable job holder.

• This is new legislation and is still ‘bedding in’.

Employment legislation 9.