AS an employer you have to keep up with the forever-changing legal field of employment law.
If you employ staff, you simply cannot afford not to know your obligations. In this regard, a key change is taking place on 6 April.
AS an employer you have to keep up with the forever-changing legal field of employment law.
If you employ staff, you simply cannot afford not to know your obligations. In this regard, a key change is taking place on 6 April. This change is the introduction of early conciliation through ACAS, which has been described as seismic.
For those employers lucky enough never to have been on the receiving end of an employment tribunal claim, the current process is that if an employee wants to bring a claim against their employer they would complete the relevant ET1 form and lodge this with the tribunal. Changes to this process were made last July with the introduction of a fee when the ET1 is lodged. ACAS would get involved thereafter as an independent third party whose role is to encourage settlements between the parties.
Under the new rules, which are voluntary as from 6 April but mandatory as from 6 May, in order to present a claim, the claimant must first contact ACAS with their name and address and that of the prospective respondent.
On receipt of the information, ACAS has a period of one calendar month (which can be extended by 14 days) to understand the claims the claimant has and try to promote a settlement between the two prospective parties. If the attempts are unsuccessful then ACAS will issue an early conciliation certificate. A claimant will need this before being able to present their claim to the employment tribunal but it gives them an extra period to bring their claim.
Employers will be impacted in a number of ways. Firstly, the service is free so it is likely to be used by any disgruntled ex-employee regardless of whether they intend to proceed with a claim. This could result in the employer receiving more ACAS calls. Secondly, the three-month limitation period is extended by potentially another month, so the period of replacing an employee who had been dismissed may equally need to grow, not to mention the need to retain any witnesses to any claim and remember exactly what happened.
This places a greater reliance on the employer’s notes and record keeping, which may present a problem for some employers. For further information on this and other up-coming employment legislation Astons Solicitors is offering a Free Employment Law Update at the Holiday Inn Northampton on 13 May 2014. See the advert on page 42 for details, call 01327 706700 or visit the website www.astonssolicitors.co.uk