Cable announces fines for employers who breach employment
laws
Emplyment Law & HR update 23/11/2011
Employment Tribunals will have the power to impose fines on
employers who breach employment laws, it was announced today.
Announcing a package of employment measures, Business Secretary
Vince Cable confirmed that the proposals for the penalties, first
outlined in the Resolving Workplace Disputes consultation paper
earlier this year, will come into force, possibly as soon as next
April.
The penalties will be paid directly to the government exchequer,
and will be in addition to any compensation ordered to be paid by
the employer to the person making the tribunal claim.
Penalties to be paid by employers who lose tribunal claims will
be:
- Up to 50% of the compensation they must pay the employee
- Between £100 and £5,000
- Paid to the government
- In addition to compensation awarded to the claimant
- Awarded at the discretion of the employment tribunal judge
The package of measures announced today also includes
- Increasing the period an employee needs to work for an employer
to be able to make a claim for unfair dismissal from one year to
two years – from April 2012;
- Requiring employees to submit their claims to ACAS before going
to an employment tribunal – but this is unlikely to be implemented
before 2014;
- Unfair Dismissal claims will be heard before a tribunal judge
alone (i.e. without members drawn from employee and employer
bodies) from April 2012.
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