get the rules and procedures for Early Conciliation right. We are also making changes to employment tribunals to make them simpler, cheaper and quicker to use .”
Full details of the announcement can be found in the press release at GOV.UK however the report confirmed that the study had found that medium and large businesses were proactive in learning about legislation and keeping up to date with changes and use sources such as Direct.gov and Acas whereas small and micro businesses tend towards being more reactive and only seeking information when problems arise and it would appear that the media is their main source information about changes to legislation.
INCORPORATION OF COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT
15 April 2013
Was a collective agreement which set out two different and inconsistent pay increases enforceable?
Yes, held the Court of Appeal in Anderson v London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority .
Daniel Barnett reports: The employer entered into a three-year pay deal with two unions. According to the terms of the agreement, the pay increase in the third year was to be 2.5% or a figure arrived at by a formula which turned out to be 1.575%. Following the financial crisis, the employer offered 1.825%. The employees sought 2.5%. The Court of Appeal held that the pay deal was not an 'agreement to agree'. Other clauses made it clear that both parties thought the deal was reached for all three years. It was not uncertain. It gave two clear choices. That being so, it was apt for incorporation. Maurice Kay LJ considered what a reasonable person would have made of the agreement. The idea that the unions would have agreed to a deal which gave the employer an unfettered right to choose between the options was 'fanciful'. The increase had to be the greater of the two. No other meaning would have made 'industrial sense'. That must have been obvious to the employer.
FEE-PAID JUDGES - PENSIONS
11 April 2013
February saw the Supreme Court hold that fee-paid judges are entitled to a judicial pension – the Lord Chancellor has recently announced a moratorium on such cases.
With thanks to Daniel Barnett’s employment law bulletin.
The Lord Chancellor has now announced a moratorium on such cases. This means that potential Claimants who are approaching limitation deadlines will not need to lodge a 'protective' claim in the employment tribunal. It is not immediately clear what power the Lord Chancellor has to waive tribunal limitation periods, as limitation is an issue which goes to jurisdiction. It is likely, though, that any tribunal would hold it was 'just and equitable' to extend time in such a claim if the Claimant had not issued proceedings in reliance on the Lord Chancellor's announcement.
CIPP Policy News Journal
16/04/2014, Page 76 of 519
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