Applying the Employment Act 2002

Overview

Whether you share the Government’s confidence or not, one thing is sure: the Act represents a major shift in the commercial environment, with far-reaching changes for employers and employees.

The majority of the new rights under the family friendly section took effect in April 2003 with most of the other provisions coming into force at the end of the year. The consequences of getting it wrong, for both employer and employee, will be considerable – financial and otherwise.

The Act affects nearly every aspect of the work place, including:

1 Flexible working
2 Family rights (adoption, paternity and improved maternity leave)
3 Changes to internal disciplinary and grievance procedures
4 Significant changes to unfair dismissal legislation
5 New rights for those employed on fixed-term contracts
6 The introduction of new rights for learning representatives from an employer’s trade union

This specially commissioned report examines each of the key developments where the Act changes existing provisions or introduces new rights. Each chapter deals with a discreet area.

Who should buy this Report

• HR managers and directors
• HR advisors and consultants
• In-house lawyers
• Employment lawyers

Content

1 Disciplinary procedures and unfair dismissal rights

• Notification to employees
• Contractual right to statutory procedures
• The employer’s procedures
• Impact on unfair dismissal awards
• When will the new procedures have to be applied?
• Grievance procedures

2 Flexible working

• Types of flexible working
• Refusing the request
• Limited recourse – the Employment Tribunal
• Tribunal compliant – time limits
• Range of working arrangements
• Future protection

3 New family rights

• Maternity leave entitlement
• Adoption leave rights
• Paternity leave and paternity pay

4 Fixed-term workers

• What rights are provided?
• Complaints about less favourable treatment
• Legal changes to the contract itself/re-writing the fixed-term contract
• Detrimental and less favourable treatment outlawed
• Redundancy exclusion – repealed

5 Equal pay questionnaires and other changes

• Equal pay questionnaires
• Key points for a complainant
• Obligations on the respondent
• Confidentiality
• Implementation dates

6 Employment Tribunal changes

7 Training and skills

• work focused interviews
• Union learning representatives

The author

Audrey Williams qualified as a Solicitor in 1989 and is now a Partner in the
Employment Law Team at Eversheds. She is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. She has particular expertise in Discrimination, Harassment, Equal Pay and Disability Discrimination.

Whilst the majority of her work is conducted on behalf of employers, she has
represented employees in a number of key discrimination cases, including one
of the first transsexual discrimination cases. Audrey also undertakes cases for
the Equal Opportunities Commission in Wales.

Audrey has particular experience of undertaking advocacy in large and complex tribunal cases on unfair dismissal and discrimination – the longest running to 13 days!

Frequently undertaking reviews of equal opportunities, maternity, harassment,
discipline, grievance and counselling policies, Audrey has assisted Clients in
providing training to establish these policies within the workplace.
She has written a number of books on aspects of employment law including
Croner’s Guide to Contracts of Employment (which she co-authored). She is a regular contributor to the Law at Work column in the IPD’s People Management magazine, CCH’s Management Newsletter and Croner’s Discrimination and Pay & Benefits Briefings. Audrey’s latest publication with Jordans is Harassment At Work, written in conjunction with two Eversheds colleagues. She is a member of the Employment Lawyers Association, Discrimination Law Association and the Institute of Directors, and is a listed expert in both ‘Chambers & Partners’ and the ‘Legal 500’.