BackLatest News and Articles - October 2009
Employment Law – New code of practice for disciplinary and grievance procedures
From 6th April 2009 substantial changes to the rules governing disciplinary and grievance procedures at work will come into effect. The statutory procedures introduced in 2004 are being repealed and replaced with a new ACAS Code of Conduct, which can be viewed at http://www.acas.org.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=1041.
The new Code sets out the requirements of such procedures and the responsibilities of both employers and employees. The main change is the removal of the automatic penalties which would be applied if a party had failed to follow the statutory procedure fully. The Employment Tribunal does still have the power to adjust an award of compensation by up to 25% if either the employer or the employee has unreasonably failed to follow the guidance in the Code. It remains to be seen how this power is put into practice by the Tribunal.
If you require further information as to how this may affect you or your business contact David Trood.