Your monthly guide to all the recent changes in the world of Employment Law

LEGILSATION

Call To War:

The mobilisation of 7,000 members of the Volunteer Reserve Forces (“reservist”) by the Defence Secretary under s54(1) of The Reserve Forces Act 1996, for service in relation to possible military action against Iraq, will doubt-less have implications for both employers and their employees.

Where an employee is affected, both he and the employer will receive call-up papers. However, both employee and employer will have the right to request exemption on prescribed grounds. Employers may be-able to recover limited costs from the government for the cost of recruiting and training replacements, recurring administrative costs.

The legislation provides reservists with security of employment with criminal sanction for any employer who terminates a reservists’ contract of employment without his or her consent during military action. The reservist has the right to be reinstated at the end of military action, on the same terms and conditions as if the call up had not taken place. For more information, visit: http://www.sabre.mod.uk

Equality in Northern Ireland:

The Government has published a consultation document “promoting equality of opportunity: implementing EU equality obligations in Northern Ireland”. The aim is clearly to implement the European discrimination directives in Northern Ireland. This will mean some new legislation and some amendments to the current legislation. Proposals cover: outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation at work and in training; amendments to race, sex, disability and religious discrimination laws; reduction to the number of exceptions in existing legislation so that the law applies more generally to people looking for work; people in jobs and people undertaking vocational training and changes in the way in which the law is enforced so that complaints can be resolved more quickly.

The document can be viewed at: www.ofmdfmni.gov.uk/equalityofopportunity/consultation/index.htm

Deadline for responses to consultation is 4 April 2003.

The Flexible Working Regulations:

The Flexible Workings (procedural requirements) Regulations 2002 SI 2002/3207 and The Flexible Working (eligibility, complaint and remedies) Regulations 2002 SI 2002/3236 have now been published in their final form.

The final regulations provide that the:

Employee must be mother, father, adopted guardian or foster carer of the child or married to a person in that position and expect to have responsibility for the bringing up of the child and must have been continually employed for at least 26 weeks.

Employer must agree to hold a meeting to discuss the application or agree to the contract variation in writing within 28 days of the application being made.

Employer must notify employee of his decision within 14 days of the date of the meeting.

Employee has the right to appeal but this must be exercised within 14 days of the notice of the intention being given.

Employee has the right to be accompanied in the meeting to discuss application or appeal.

Where the breaches of procedure involved are either failure to hold a meeting or failure to notify a decision, the employee may still make a complaint to an Employment Tribunal.

The maximum amount of compensation is 8 weeks pay. Capped at the statutory minimum.

Working Time (amendment) Regulations 2002:

The Working Time (amendment) Regulations 2002 SI2002/3128 are now in force. The Regulations and the Working Time Regulations 1998 implement the young workers directive, protecting workers aged 16 and 17 (see Bitesize January 2003).

The Regulations can be viewed at: www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2002/20023128.htm

TUPE and Two-tier Workforces:

The Government is to introduce rules aimed at insuring that the package of terms and conditions offered to new recruits match those of existing workers in instances where government and local authority contracts have been ‘contracted out’. However, there is some dispute brewing between the Unions and the Government as the former favour that terms and conditions should be no less favourable than those of existing staff as opposed to the latter’s preference for terms ‘broadly comparable’ to those of existing staff.

Maternity Rights:

In view of the changes to Maternity Rights (see Bitesize Dec 2002), the DTI has published a useful new guide, which provides information on the law as it applies to women whose babies are due on or after 6 April 2003. This can be viewed on the DTI website: www.dti.gov.uk

Dispute Resolution

The Government has changed the proposed implementation dates for the statutory disciplinary and grievance procedures from Autumn 2003 to April 2004.