Modernisation Fund

The Government has invited unions to make bids from the Union Modernisation Fund to improve efficiency.

The money (between £5 and £10 million) is to support projects for training union reps, reviewing internal structures and making more use of new technologies.

 

TUC publications

The TUC has produced a number of publications recently. These include:

  • The EU temp trade, which shows that the UK is one of only three European countries where temps get paid less than their permanent counterparts. 
  • Black workers, jobs and poverty, which analyses official statistics to show that unemployment among the UK's ethnic minority communities currently stands at 11 per cent (five per cent for white workers). 
  • The TUC has also published Health and Safety Executive's Management Standards for Work-related Stress - A Guide for Safety Representatives. 

 

Data protection

Previously available in four different parts, the Office of the Information Commissioner has now updated and consolidated the Employment Practices Data Protection Code to help employers comply with the Data Protection Act 1998.

The new code consolidates the four separate parts - Recruitment and Selection; Employment Records; Monitoring at Work; and Information About Workers' Health - into one document. It also reflects the Court of Appeal's guidance in Durant v Financial Services Authority (LELR 86) on what constitutes a "relevant filing system" under the Act.

  

Work changes

A comprehensive study of the British workplace has shown a sweeping change in the way that employees balance work and family responsibilities.

The 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey found that since the last survey in 1998:

  • paid paternity leave has increased by a staggering 44 per cent to 92 per cent
  • parental leave has increased to 73 per cent from 38 per cent
  • homeworking has increased by 12 per cent to 28 per cent
  • term time only working has doubled to 28 per cent
  • flexi-time is up from 19 per cent to 26 per cent
  • job sharing has increased by ten per cent to 41 per cent.

 

Annual reports

CAC
This year's report by the Central Arbitration Committee shows a fall of 20 per cent in new recognition applications on the previous year, with a total of 83 in 2004/5.

ETS
In its annual report for the year 2004/5, the Employment Tribunal Service, which provides administrative support to tribunals and the employment appeal tribunals, reported that:

  • 86,181 claims were registered, compared with 115,042 the year before. The 25 per cent decrease is mainly due to fewer multiple cases
  • 1038 cost orders were made, with 283 in favour of the applicant and 755 in favour of the respondent.
    Go to www.ets.gov.uk/annualreport2005.pdf (PDF file) for a copy.

 

Minimum wage

Changes to the minimum wage come into effect on 1 October 2005, as follows:

  • the rate for adult workers increases from £4.85 to £5.05 per hour
  • the rate for younger workers (18 to 21) increases from £4.10 to £4.25 per hour.

 

Age regulations

Draft regulations on age discrimination published recently by the Department of Trade and Industry are due to come into force on 1 October.

The new regulations will:

  • ban age discrimination in terms of recruitment, promotion and training
  • ban all retirement ages below 65 - except where objectively justified
  • remove the current upper age limit for unfair dismissal and redundancy rights.

 

They will also introduce:

  • a duty for employers to consider an employee's request to continue working beyond retirement; and
  • a requirement for employers to give written notification to employees at least six months in advance of their intended retirement date to allow people to plan for their retirement.

 

Discrimination rules

A number of changes to sex discrimination and equal pay legislation in employment and vocational training are being introduced by the Government in October 2005.

These include:

  • a new definition of indirect sex discrimination
  • a new formulation of harassment and sexual harassment
  • provisions to make clear that less favourable treatment of women on grounds of pregnancy or maternity leave is unlawful sex discrimination
  • a new eight-week time limit for responses to a sex discrimination questionnaire.

 

Mr Melia

The appellant in Melia v Magna Kansei Ltd (LELR 100) has asked us to point out that the findings of the tribunal (leading to the reduction in his compensation) followed a protracted search by his employer for material to justify his dismissal.

 

Hope for equal pay

Having been promoted to the position of group purchasing manager, Mrs Hope discovered that she was being paid less than the man who had previously done the job. To add insult to injury, she did even more work, as she did not have a deputy.

Thankfully, the EAT in Hope v SITA (UK) Ltd rejected the company's argument that a woman cannot succeed with a "like work" argument when she is found, as a matter of fact, to be doing more work than her male comparator.

The judge made clear that "the fact that a promoted woman undertakes more duties than her male predecessor cannot result in a conclusion that the two are not undertaking like work in order to justify her being paid less."

 

Claim form rules

Under the new rules governing employment tribunal claim forms, claimants have to enter a minimum amount of information before the forms can be admitted.

In Richardson v U Mole Ltd, the claimant did not use the new form (ET1) and he failed to say that he was an employee. As a result, the tribunal refused to admit the claim.

The employment appeal tribunal said, however, that his employment status was implied by the dates that he gave for his employment; and that because the omission was immaterial to the claim he was bringing, the tribunal had the power to admit the form.

 

Employers take heart

After having a heart attack brought on by stress at work, a pub manager "in a very rough area" made a personal injury claim against his employer.

Although there was conflicting evidence as to whether the employer had been put on notice that the claimant was likely to have a heart attack if nothing was done to alleviate the stress, the county court found in his favour.

The Court of Appeal, however, has overturned the decision in Harding v The Pub Estate Company Ltd. It said that no one, including the GP, had foreseen that he might have a heart attack and that, therefore, it was not reasonably foreseeable by the employer.