The Act introduces a number of changes to employment tribunal procedure. Among other things, it enables the secretary to state to make regulations authorising tribunals to: The paternity leave provisions will allow fathers to take up to 2 weeks’ paid paternity leave. It must be taken within a period of 56 days beginning with the date of the birth or the child being placed for adoption. Paternity and adoption leave will only be available to employees, who have continuous service with the same employer for at least 26 weeks by the 15th week before the child is expected to be born, or, by the week in which an agreed match for adoption is made. The wording of the draft Regulations is such that the parental and adoption leave provisions will extend to co-habiting and same sex partners. An Act to make provision for statutory rights to paternity and adoption leave and pay; to amend the law relating to statutory maternity leave and pay; to amend the Employment Tribunals Act 1996; to make provision for the use of statutory procedures in relation to employment disputes; to amend the law relating to particulars of employment; to make provision about compromise agreements; to make provision for questionnaires in relation to equal pay; to make provision in connection with trade union learning representatives; to amend section 110 of the Employment Rights Act 1996; to make provision about fixed-term work; to make provision about flexible working; to amend the law relating to matervkhnity allowance; to make provision for work-focused interviews for partners of benefit claimants; to make provision about the use of information for, or relating to, employment and training; and for connected purposes. Maternity leave is one which is included with the leave a mother should get when she has given birth to a child. In the UK a pula would get 26 weeks of paid leave for time they will need to spend with their child. The Act also provides the basis for amending employment tribunal rules to introduce a fixed period for conciliation by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), and to enable a tougher approach to the handling of weak cases.

To what extent the greater use of workplace procedures will reduce the volume of tribunal applications remains to be seen. The government’s estimate that the reduction will be between 30,000 and 40,000 applications per year has been met with some scepticism, particularly from Labour Party peers during the House of Lords’ debates on the new legislation. In any event, the new employee rights introduced by the Act will themselves add to tribunal workloads, with the right to seek flexible working arrangements perhaps the most likely provision to generate a significant number of claims. More fundamentally, concerns have been expressed that the 'three-stage' statutory minimum procedures are too 'minimalist' to offer effective protection to employees. In particular, they do not meet the accepted standards set out in the current ACAS Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures. The adoption leave provisions will mean that employees will have a right to take 26 weeks "ordinary" adoption leave, followed by 26 weeks unpaid additional adoption leave. The employee seeking adoption leave must produce a Matching Certificate from an approved adoption agency. The adoption can be of a child from overseas, but the child placed for adoption must be under 18. The leave can begin no earlier than 14 days before the expected date of placement and no later than the date on which a child is placed for adoption.a meeting between the employer and the employee to discuss the matter, at which the employee has the right to be accompanied ( UK0010195F), and after which the employee must be informed of the employer’s decision; and The Act sets out a procedure and timetable which employers must follow in responding to such an application, which will be fleshed out by regulations. The employer must arrange a meeting, within 28 days of receiving an application, to discuss the employee’s request, at which the employee may be accompanied by a representative. The employee must be informed of the employer’s decision within 14 days, and the employee has a further 14 days to appeal. Text of the Employment Act 2002 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

Employment tribunals will be required to vary compensation awards by up to 50% where an employer or applicant has failed to use the statutory procedures. Moreover, the Act contains provisions preventing certain categories of complaint from being presented to tribunals until step 1 of the grievance procedure (sending written notice of a grievance to the employer) has been completed and at least 28 days have elapsed thereafter. Also, under this Act, there were many other factors such as equal pay, fixed-term work, flexible working. Employees bringing equal pay claims will have the right to serve a questionnaire on their employers seeking information relevant to their claim or potential claim. This is in line with existing legislation covering sex, race and disability discrimination. Regulations on this issue are due to be laid before the end of 2002 for implementation in early 2003. Employer and trade union viewsThe Act sets out a similar three-stage grievance procedure, starting with a written statement of the employee’s grievance. the introduction of a new right to two weeks’ paternity leave paid at the same standard rate as SMP. This is in addition to the existing right to 13 weeks’ parental leave; increases in the standard rate of statutory maternity pay (SMP) and maternity allowance to the lesser of GBP 100 per week or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings; Employees wishing to take maternity leave will need to notify their employer by the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth. All notice periods, e.g. on changes to the start of maternity leave or with the expected return date, will be 28 days. A range of improvements to employees’ existing parental leave rights ( UK9912144F) will take effect from April 2003. These include:

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) have both given mixed reactions to the provisions of the Employment Act. The Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002 came into force on 1 October 2002. They provide that: The Employment Act will also, from April 2003, give employees the right to request flexible working. Although there will be no automatic right to flexible working, the Act states that employers must give proper consideration to this type of request from employees. the use of successive fixed-term contracts will be limited to four years, unless the use of further fixed-term contracts is justified on objective grounds.The dispute resolution sections of the Act are expected to be implemented in late 2003. Equal treatment of fixed-term employees The Employment Act, which has only recently been enacted, provides new rights for fathers to take paternity leave and, for couples adopting a child, the right for one of the couple to take adoption leave. The Act also provides for new rules on maternity leave and pay. Consultation on draft regulations containing detailed provisions on the operation of the new right closed on 10 October 2002. The regulations are due to take effect from April 2003. Employment tribunal reform an increase in the period of maternity leave to six months’ paid maternity leave followed by up to six months’ unpaid leave;

This feature summarises the Employment Act’s main requirements and the timetable for their implementation, and looks at employer and trade union views of the new legislation. Key provisions of the Act 'Family-friendly' working The Act also gives parents of children under six years of age (or disabled children up to the age of 18) the right to request flexible working patterns for childcare purposes, and places a duty on employers to give proper consideration to the request ( UK0112105N). The aim is to facilitate dialogue between working parents and their employers about working patterns that meet parents’ childcare responsibilities as well as employers’ business needs. Such a request may involve: Employers must then arrange a meeting within 4 weeks of the request to consider and discuss the request with the employee. Every employer must write to the employee within 2 weeks of that meeting with a decision, giving reasons if the application is objected. The employee can appeal within 2 weeks of the employer’s decision and the appeal must be heard within 2 weeks. The change may be to the hours or time when the employee is required to work, the place of work or any other aspect of the employment terms that are to be set out in Regulations. The formal request must: be in writing; set out the working pattern; specify the date from which it is to become effective; and set out what effect it may have on the employer and how it could be dealt with. Employees are only allowed one request every 12 months. In addition to the legislative measures contained in the Act, the government set up an Employment Tribunal System Taskforce to look at ways of making the tribunal system more efficient and cost effective ( UK0111105N). This issued its report in July 2002. Its main recommendations include the establishment of a high-level coordinating body to ensure greater coherence within the employment tribunal system and the promotion of best practice, and a greater emphasis on the prevention of disputes. Ministers have said that they will respond to the Taskforce’s recommendations in the autumn. Workplace dispute resolution

Commentary

Employers may refuse to grant requests for flexible working for objective business reasons. These may be because the working arrangement requested would add unreasonable costs to the business or it might have a detrimental impact on quality, performance or the ability to meet customer demand. Any refusal would need to be objectively justified and properly explained to the employees. This new right to request flexible working is likely to be a matter which becomes more prominent and employers will need to start planning now as to how they will deal with such requests. Paternity leave is when a male counterpart is able to have time off to spend with the child and the mother while receiving paid leave. The Act expands the legal requirements on employers to issue employees with a written statement of their main terms and conditions. Among other things, it removes the current 20-employee threshold that applies to the provision of information on disciplinary and grievance procedures. This means that all employers of whatever size will have to provide information on the statutory minimum disciplinary and dismissal procedures in the written statement. Detailed provision on the operation of these rights will be set out in regulations. Consultation on draft regulations closed on 19 July 2002.