Employment Law changes

Did you know that there have been several key changes in Employment Law? Are you up to date with the changes that came in to force on 6 April 2014.

• From 6 April 2014 employees will have the option of submitting details of their dispute to ACAS before they issue a claim in the employment tribunal.  This becomes mandatory on 6 May 2014. They will be offered early conciliation for up to a month, which can be extended by a further two weeks, and the time limit for presenting a claim will also be extended.  If conciliation is refused by either party or does not succeed, the employee will be able to present his or her claim.  There is no obligation on either party to conciliate but it is hoped that ACAS will have a high success rate and that this free service will mean a number of potential employment claims are settled before tribunal proceedings are started.
• Tribunal compensation limits rose on 6 April 2014 in line with inflation.  The maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal will be £76,574 (or 52 weeks’ pay if less).  A week’s pay for calculating both the basic award for unfair dismissal and statutory redundancy payments will be £464 and the maximum basic award or statutory redundancy payment will now be £13,920.
• Statutory discrimination questionnaires have been abolished. There is now a new "informal approach" to fill the gap left by abolishing the statutory questionnaire procedure. The government considers that this non-legislative approach, which is set out in Acas guidance.

If you would like any further information regarding Employment Law please contact a member of our Employment Team.