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We are all probably aware that employment law changes happen regularly with legislative changes becoming effective in April and October, so much that it can be easy to overlook the impact on policies and procedures.
April this year witnessed the following:
- Revised discipline & grievance procedures;
- Extension to flexible working entitlement;
- Minimum annual leave entitlement increased from 24 to 28 days.
 Disciplinary & Grievance Procedures - The Employment Bill 2008
The most significant change effective from 6 April saw the abolition of the statutory discipline and grievance procedures for handling workplace disputes, replaced with an approach requring consistency with the new ACAS Code of Practice.
This offers a broader, less prescriptive set of guidelines based around five main principles: Employers should act consistently, carry out any necessary investigations, tell the employee the issue/problem, give them an opportunity to put forward their case and allow them to be accompanied by a colleague or trade union member.
Although procedurally there is very little difference, it is essential to ensure that policies and procedures accurately reflect the ACAS code, otherwise there may be scope for error and a challenge that you are not acting consistently with the code.
One of the provisions of the new act is that if an employer fails to follow the code of practice it could lead to a 25% increase in any awared made to the employee. Thankfully, this works both ways if the employee does not do likewise, but the key point is to make sure your policies and procedures are consistent with the ACAS code. Appropriate refresher training is also worth considering.
 Flexible Working
Prior to 6 April, parents or carers of children up to the age of six, or parents and carers of disabled children up to the age of 18 were able to request permanent changes to location, hours or days or work. This had now been extended to all parents or carers with children up to the age of 16 and could potentially mean an extra 4.5 million parents asking for flexible working hours.
In the current climate it will be vital for employers to make clear provision for any flexible working requests and clearly define the rules applicable e.g changes under a flexible working request can be fixed for a period of one year, unless otherwise agreed.
It is debatable whether the current climate will witness an increase in requests from employees and/or employers being more receptive due to the need to cut costs. Either way, it would be advisable to be prepared and ensure policies and procedures are up to date.
The above briefly touches upon the key changes effective from 6 April. For more information or to discuss the implications of the above please contact Paul Himple on 07801 709945 or email paul@go-legal-hr.com
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