Proposals on shaking up employment law..

Trying to help the small business owner has been on the agenda recently for the Government.The Business Secretary, Vince Cable announced that they want to reduce the costs of Employment Tribunals and ease the burden of employment law for small businesses

The Government believes that the proposals will help businesses expand by taking on new employees whilst cutting unnecessary bureaucracy when staff have to be let go.

The Business Secretary confirmed that from April 2012, the qualifying period in order to bring a claim for unfair dismissal will increase from 1 year to 2 year’s service.

Following consultation the Government is also considering a requirement that all employment dispute claims are to be dealt with by the conciliation service ACAS to give each party the opportunity to resolve the dispute before reaching an employment tribunal.

There were also other issues that the Business Secretary stated the Government will seek views on. These include:

* No fault dismissals for businesses with fewer than 10 employees allowing the business to dismiss employees without being taken to a tribunal if they pay a compensation payment.

* Allowing employers to have ‘protected conversations’ with employees about poor performance knowing that the discussion cannot then be quoted during an employment tribunal.

* Simplifying the current dismissal processes.

* Introducing fees to lodge employment tribunal claims