New UK Laws on Staff Dispute Resolution and Disciplinary Procedures

October 2004 saw the introduction of the Employment Act 2002, which has brought a new approach to staff dispute resolution.

It has long been acknowledged that disputes in the workplace are disruptive, stressful, and costly – both for employers and employees. Once time and legal expenses are taken into account, the average cost of an employment tribunal for a UK employer is £2,000. In addition, it is said that 50% of employees who take a case to a tribunal end up in lower paid or lower status jobs after the hearing, and almost a quarter find themselves unemployed.

In a recent twelve month period, the UK employment tribunal service received over 94,000 claims. But research showed that in more than 33% of cases, the employee and his or her manager had not had any prior discussion about the problem.

The new legislation in the Employment Act aims to address these problems by:

  • encouraging both employers and employees to discuss disputes
  • promoting alternative ways to resolve disputes
  • enabling the employment tribunal system to work more effectively.

Since October 2004, all employers and employees have been required to follow a new three-step process when dealing with most dismissals, disciplinary actions or grievances. If they don’t, they could face a financial penalty should a dispute reach a tribunal.

The stages in this new three-step process are as follows:

  • Write a letter explaining the issue

    If an employer is considering disciplinary action, he must put the reasons for this in writing to the employee. Similarly, if the employee has a grievance against his employer, he must put it in writing in a letter to his employer.

  • Have a meeting to discuss the issue

    A face to face meeting must take place between the employer and the employee to discuss the issues raised in the letter. There must be a suitable amount of time prior to the meeting for the recipient of the letter to consider the other party’s complaint. Following the meeting, the employee must be informed of the employer’s decision and notified of their right to appeal.

  • Have an appeal meeting if required

    This may happen after sanctions have already been imposed. The employer must inform the employee of the outcome of the appeal.

    • The above standards are intended to be a minimum which must be met by all UK employers. However, so long as these minimum standards are complied with, companies are free to personalise the procedures to suit the needs of their own business.

    Remember, if a dispute reaches tribunal and one of the parties has not followed the three-step process in full, they will almost certainly face penalties.

    If an employer fails to follow the new rules, then any award made to the employee by a tribunal will be increased by a minimum of 10% up to a maximum of 50%

    If the employee fails to follow the procedure, any award they are adjudged to receive is reduced by a minimum of 10% up to a maximum of 50%.

    In light of the new regulations, all businesses need to:

    • Understand the new laws
    • Review existing disciplinary and grievance procedures
    • Put in place new procedures where none exists
    • Inform employees of their new rights and where they can go to obtain more information
    • Update company documents such as the employee handbook to reflect the new legislation
    • Follow the new three-step process when dealing with any disciplinary matters of staff grievances.

    ------

    Copyright 2004 David Miles. You are welcome to reproduce this article on your website, so long as it is published "as is" (unedited) and with the author's bio paragraph (resource box) and copyright information included. In addition, all links to external websites must be left in place.

    David Miles is the editor of the Employee Contracts website which provides information on HR and personnel issues such as: contracts of employment, disciplinary procedures, and staff dispute resolution.

    In The News:

    pen paper and inkwell


    cat break through


    Keep Your Good Workers by Building Good Leaders

    A recent report from the American Hospital Association's Commission on... Read More

    Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Workplace Ethics: Reaching the Highest Standard

    This article relates to the Ethics in the Workplace competency,... Read More

    Importance of Just-In-Time Inventory System

    In today's competitive world shorter product life cycles, customers rapid... Read More

    6 Steps To Effective Management During Change

    Take the pain out of gain and decrease the upheaval... Read More

    5 Steps to Continuous Process Improvement

    Part One of Creating Well-Defined Processes SeriesWhat if your sales... Read More

    Never Hire Anyone Dumber Than You Are!

    In a previous life I was a Navy Pilot. Great... Read More

    Saying One Thing, Doing Another...

    This week I was asked to speak at an internal... Read More

    Comparing Ancient Programs from the East to Modern Programs like Stephen Covey.

    Comparing Corporate and Personal goal attainment programs that have developed... Read More

    Creativity and Innovation Management: The Value Of Due Diligence

    Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

    The Seven Essentials of Business Communication

    There are seven essential elements to successful business communication:StructureClarityConsistencyMediumRelevancyPrimacy/RecencyPsychological Rule... Read More

    The 70% Solution: Practical Testing and Version Control

    "What do you mean you need to push back the... Read More

    New Leadership For A New War

    Military analysts call this "asymmetrical" war (as if war has... Read More

    Is Chess Good for Management?

    The game of chess has been applauded and taught in... Read More

    The New Economy

    This technological revolution has organization, efficiency and productivity requirements well... Read More

    Goodwill is an Intangible Asset

    'Goodwill' is regarded as an intangible asset in a business.... Read More

    Motivation - You Get What You Reward

    There's a programme currently running on BBC Television in the... Read More

    Best Workplaces

    The Best Workplaces report (Financial Times, April 28, 2005) notes... Read More

    Train Me -- But Follow Through

    My mechanic has me trained. When I take my car... Read More

    Making Change Work

    Shaky FoundationsWhilst over 60% of businesses will be looking to... Read More

    What to Do When Trust is Low

    Trust is essential. You can't run a business without it.... Read More

    Keys to Feeling Powerfull In An Uncertain World

    Life has always been full of uncertainties. Over the last... Read More

    How to Hire the Right People

    One of the biggest challenges any business owner or manager... Read More

    Give Yourself a Boss Day Gift, Part 2: Are You the Position or the Person?

    Are you the position or the person?Bosses can lose their... Read More

    Selecting a Business Broker or Intermediary to Help You Sell Your Business

    As crazy as it seems, some people spend more time... Read More

    Got A Meeting Planned? Ask This Question

    Meetings ? they are a fact of our business lives.... Read More

    How Can A Communications Audit Help You?

    Organizations communicate in two directions: internally to staff and externally... Read More

    Performance Appraisals: Questions for Smarties and Dummies

    In numerous programs I've conducted on performance appraisals, with Human... Read More

    How to Approach Group Decision Making

    GROUP DECISION MAKING -- IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM: Tell specifically what... Read More

    Creativity and Innovation Management :- Thought Leadership

    Leadership is only sustainable when leaders consistently come up with... Read More

    Project Management, A Forgotten Perspective

    Effective project managers know how to get the job done,... Read More

    I Said Pareto Chart? Not Potato Chart!

    Does this sound familiar? You were hired for the new... Read More

    Is Your Management Style Assisting or Hurting Your Business?

    Many times business owners can have significant differences in management... Read More

    Using Outlook to Count Responses

    Here's a productivity tip that will save you a lot... Read More