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Enforcing rights to time off
[ch 9: pages 285-286]A claim can be brought in the employment tribunal to enforce these rights. A tribunal can order the employer to pay the employee who is denied the time off their outstanding pay, even if the employer’s refusal meant that the employee worked and was paid during the time when the appointment should have occurred.
There is a tribunal issue fee of £160 and a hearing fee of £230. In many cases, the fee is likely to equal or exceed the value of the claim. Means-tested government “Help with Fees” is available for a few low-paid workers. For all claims, the first step is to submit an Acas Early Conciliation Notification Form. This step is mandatory. See Chapter 13 for information on Acas Early Conciliation, “Help with fees” and tribunal fees.
New EHRC report finds high levels of pregnancy and maternity discrimination
New research commissioned by the Department for Business Information and Skills and the Equality and Human Rights Commission, published in March 2016, has demonstrated a significant rise in levels of pregnancy and maternity discrimination since 2005, with three-quarters of pregnant women and new mothers experiencing discrimination at work and one in nine losing their job as a result. In its response, the government said it is “too soon” to change the level of employment tribunal fees (even for claims, such as a claim for time off for ante-natal appointments, where the size of the fixed fee will often outweigh the value of the claim).
The government also rejected an increase in the time limit for a claim from three to six months, but accepted the EHRC’s other recommendations. These mostly concern soft issues such as “leadership”, “communication”, training and “awareness raising”, as well as a proposal to “explore the feasibility of a collective insurance scheme to support small and medium-sized employers” to spread the cost of providing enhanced maternity pay. Any such scheme would be a voluntary, commercial arrangement.