Government publishes results to the Resolving Workplace Disputes Consultation

The Government have today published their response to the Resolving Workplace Disputes Consultation. 

The key points are:

Mediation
The Government will explore with large businesses within the retail sector whether and how they might be able to share their mediation expertise with smaller businesses in their supply chain, and will pilot the creation of regional mediation networks through the provision of mediation training to a number of representatives from local SMEs.

Compromise Agreements
The Government will:

• bring forward an amendment to clarify s.147 of the Equality Act, to provide reassurance to parties that compromise agreements can safely be used;
• consider how we can develop a standard text for compromise agreements:
• consult on amending section 203(3)(b) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 to enable compromise agreements to cover existing and future claims without requiring long lists of causes of action;
• consult on introducing a system of “protected conversations”;
• amend the title of “compromise agreements” to “settlement agreements”.   

Early conciliation
The Government intends to introduce the requirement for all potential tribunal claims to be lodged with Acas in the first instance. 

Modernising Tribunals
The Government has asked Mr Justice Underhill, outgoing President of the Employment Appeal Tribunal, to lead a fundamental review of the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure.  At the same time, we will make changes to the Rules as set out in relation to:

• cost and deposit orders
• witness statements
• witness expenses
• Judges sitting alone in unfair dismissal cases at the earliest opportunity

Unfair Dismissal qualification period
The Government intends to extend the qualification period for unfair dismissal from one to two years.

Financial Penalties
The Government intends to introduce a discretionary power for employment tribunals to levy a financial penalty on employers found to have breached employment rights.

Formula for calculating award and payment limits
The Government intends to retain the automatic mechanism for up-rating tribunal awards and statutory redundancy payments, but will modify the formula to round to the nearest pound.

Rapid Resolution
The Government will consider whether and how we can introduce a scheme to provide quicker, cheaper, determinations in low value, straightforward claims (such as holiday pay) as an alternative to the current employment tribunal process. 

The Government response document can be found in full by clicking here

Terms of Reference for the Fundamental Review of the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure can be found by clicking here