Employment Act 2008: Changes To Current Statutory And Grievance Procedures
A new Acas Code of Conduct (the
"Code") came into force on 6 April 2009
and replaced the statutory disciplinary and grievance procedures
("the Statutory Procedures"). The Code
seeks to encourage parties to resolve workplace issues informally,
providing a framework for dealing with issues at work where
informal measures fail.
When will the Code apply?
Unlike the Statutory Procedures, the Code will apply to
dismissals and minor disciplinary proceedings
including oral and written warnings. The Code does not apply to
redundancy dismissals or non-renewal of fixed term contracts.
The Code lays down requirements for dealing with employees'
grievances, or "concerns, problems or complaints".
However, employers are no longer obliged to hear grievances from
former employees.
Obligations under the Code
Employers must:
investigate disciplinary and grievance matters promptly;
where practicable, to appoint separate individuals to conduct
investigations and subsequent disciplinary or grievance
procedures;
confirm the outcome to employees without unreasonable
delay;
hold appeal meetings without unreasonable delay; and
inform employees of their appeal outcome as soon as
practicable.
Employees must raise a grievance or appeal against dismissal
without unreasonable delay; attend disciplinary and grievance
hearings where possible; and not unreasonably delay the conduct of
grievance and disciplinary meetings.
Breach of the Code
A dismissal will not be automatically unfair if an employer does
not comply with the Code. However, a failure to follow the Code
will be a factor for Employment Tribunals to consider in
determining whether a dismissal was unfair.
If an employer or employee unreasonably fails to abide by the
principles of the Code, Employment Tribunals may increase or
decrease an employee's compensation by up to 25%. However,
"unreasonable failure" is not defined so we expect to see
litigation over this issue.
Time Limits
Employees must present claims within three months of the date of
the alleged act or of the date of dismissal.
Transitional Arrangements
The Statutory Disciplinary and Dismissal Procedures continue to
apply where the first step of a disciplinary or dismissal procedure
was taken, or dismissal occurred, before 6 April 2009.
The Statutory Grievance Procedures will generally continue to
apply where the action about which the employee complains took
place before 6 April 2009, or started before 6 April 2009 and
continued after that date. Claims...
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