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Print articleEmployment Law Changes - Five Things you Need to Know
April, 2014 - Neil Maclean, Katie Russell
On Sunday 6 April 2014 a number of changes will be made to employment law. We have put together this list of 5 changes we think you need to know about:
Discrimination questionnaires abolished. Section 138 of the Equality Act 2010 allowed employees to serve a formal questionnaire on employers about discrimination matters. If an employer failed to answer fully, the tribunal could draw an adverse inference from such failure. From 6 April 2014 this formal process will be abolished. Employees will still be able to ask questions about discrimination and Acas have released this guidance on how to do so. Please click here to view.
Employer penalties. For employment tribunal claims submitted on or after 6 April 2014 the tribunal will have the power to impose financial penalties against an employer who loses. Penalties will be applied if there are “aggravating factors” which will depend on the whole circumstances of the case and are likely to include instances of malice or serious negligence. The financial penalties will range from a minimum of £100 to a maximum cap of £5,000 and will normally be set at 50% of the award made to the Claimant. Just like parking tickets, employers only need to pay half the fine if the payment is made within 21 days. The penalty will be payable to the state and not the Claimant.
Acas early conciliation. Employees who want to raise an employment tribunal claim will be directed to Acas first to try early conciliation. For more information on this procedure, click here for our full alert.
Increased cap on unfair dismissal awards. The cap on compensation in an unfair dismissal claim has been increased for dismissals that take place on or after 6 April 2014. The new caps are:-
Basic award: £13,920 (the cap on a week’s pay has increased to £464)
Compensatory award: £76,574 or one year’s pay (whichever is lower)
Changes to rates and limits. In addition to the above increases the weekly cap on maternity pay (prescribed rate), paternity pay and adoption pay has increased to £138.18. The rate of a week’s pay for the purpose of statutory sick pay has also increased to £87.55. Employers who pay over 13% of their Class 1 National Insurance Contributions for the month towards statutory sick pay will no longer be entitled to reclaim the difference. The Government proposes to put the money saved towards a new Health and Work Service designed to help get employees back to work after periods of illness.
