Employment Act 2008 and the new ACAS Code of Practice on Discipline and Grievance – Implications for Employers

On 6 April 2009 employment law will change again when the Employment Act 2008 comes into force with the new ACAS code of practice on discipline and grievance. These will replace the much criticised statutory dismissal and grievance procedures that were introduced in 2002.

Three key changes

From April, three key changes will mean that if you have a dispute with an employee the burden on you as an employer will be less and resolution is about to become less stressful:

• you will no longer be under an obligation to hear grievances from ex-employees;
• if you do not follow procedure a dismissal will not be automatically unfair; and
• if you unreasonably fail to follow the new procedures any compensation awarded at an employment tribunal will be uplifted only by up to 25% rather than currently up to 50%.

Transitional Provisions

The new provisions will not come into effect immediately and there are some complicated transitional rules which means that in some cases the old rules will apply. These cases  include where a Step 1 letter has been issued or a Step 2 meeting has taken place before 5 April 2009 .

Emphasis on Resolving issues

The draft ACAS Code emphasises sorting out problems before they escalate and paragraphs 10 to 15 give guidance on how to resolve an issue informally.

The mediation route is promoted by ACAS as a way of resolving disputes and as an employer you should consider including mediation as an optional stage in your disciplinary and grievance procedures.   If you do not want to do this you should consider whether the disciplinary procedure should state that it should be suspended if the mediation route is followed.

The new Code replaces the current three step disciplinary and grievance system.   Sample disciplinary and grievance procedures are set out in Appendix 2 of the Code.

The draft code runs to 74 pages so is much longer than the current ACAS Code, largely due to the extra practical advice included on procedures to be followed with your employees. 

Follow the link to read the ACAS code: http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2114

Speak to Fiona Hume if you want to discuss this issue