Planned changes to unfair dismissal law

A number of important changes are expected to unfair dismissal law:

• From Summer 2013, anyone wanting to bring an unfair dismissal claim must pay tribunal fees totalling £1,200, made up of a fee to issue the claim of £250 and a hearing fee of £950. See Chapter 1: The Employment tribunal system.

• From Summer 2013, an employee who brings a tribunal claim for ordinary (i.e. not automatic) unfair dismissal will be formally barred from relying on evidence of any discussions indicating that the employer wants to end the employment on agreed terms, unless there is evidence of “improper behaviour.” These conversations are to be protected from disclosure.

• From Summer 2013, the cap on unfair dismissal compensation will be limited to twelve months’ pay or the current cap (£74,200), whichever is the lower.

• From 25 June 2013, changes will be made to the rules protecting whistleblowers.

• From October 2013, the government intends to introduce a new kind of employment status: Employee Shareholder status which will involve employees giving up various statutory rights including the right to claim ordinary unfair dismissal and a redundancy payment (see box below),

• From Spring 2014, all claims will have to be submitted for mandatory conciliation by Acas before they can proceed to the tribunal (see Chapter 1).

The government claims that these changes will increase labour flexibility. However, there is no evidence of a link between employment regulation and labour market flexibility. Neither is there any evidence of a flood of unfair dismissal claims. In 2011/2012, the median award for a claim for unfair dismissal was just £4,560 and reinstatement was awarded in only five cases.

Tribunal statistics for the period from April — March 2011-12 can be downloaded from the website of the Ministry of Justice: www.justice.gov.uk