Ways to encourage the use of settlement agreements as a means of coming to a consensual agreement, allowing both parties to avoid the costs and stresses of a tribunal case; Changing the limit of the compensatory award in unfair dismissal cases to give employers more certainty about their potential liability and give employees more understanding of the value of unfair dismissal claims.
Ending the employment relationship: consultation (Closing date: 23 Nov 2012)
ANNUAL EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNAL STATISTICS 2011/12
24 September 2012
The Employment and Employment Appeal Tribunal statistics for 2011-2012 have been published and show a 15% reduction in the number of claims.
Morton Fraser reports some interesting trends:
The largest sum awarded by the Tribunal in 2011/2012 was £4,445,023 and was awarded in a race discrimination claim. Very high awards were also made in disability and age discrimination claims. You will notice from the figures below that the highest unfair dismissal award of £173,408 is in excess of the statutory cap of £72,300 but remember that this cap does not apply where the unfair dismissal is for whistleblowing or for raising certain health and safety reasons. The number of costs awards made by Tribunals has risen sharply from 487 to 1,411 ET claims with 1,295 of those awards being to the Respondent (note though that 800 of these awards involved a multiple case involving 800 claimants and a £4,000 cost award to the Respondent). The total number of costs awards is still though fairly insignificant compared with the 186,300 claims accepted by the Tribunal, but the increase perhaps represent a shift in attitude with Tribunal being more willing to make costs awards. The maximum costs award was £36,466. The median figure (excluding the 800 awards and substituting them with one award of £4,000) is £1,730 (an increase from last year's figure of £1,273). Listed below are the maximum, average and median awards for unfair dismissal and discrimination claims: Maximum Award Median Award Average Award Unfair Dismissal £173,408 £4,560 £9,133 Race Discrimination £4,445,023 £5,256 £102,259 Sex Discrimination £89,700 £6,746 £9,940 Disability Discrimination £390,871 £8,928 £22,183 Religious Discrimination £59,522 £4,267 £16,725 Sexual Orientation Discrimination £27,473 £13,505 £14,623 Age Discrimination £144,100 £6,065 £19,327
Follow this link to read the full report .
NEW EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS ANNOUNCED
10 October 2012
The Chancellor has announced a new type of employment contract called an owner- employee contract where employees will give up certain rights in exchange for tax free company shares.
CIPP Policy News Journal
12/04/2013, Page 318 of 362
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