Ian Smith sweeps through a month of change, disputed rest breaks & contract setbacks
Last month saw the coalition government’s agenda on legislative reform of employment law start to come through in drafted legislation. Finalised regulations were enacted on compromise agreements in discrimination cases and tribunal procedure (raising amounts for deposits and costs/expenses orders, allowing costs for witnesses and providing that witness statements are to be taken as read) and drafts were produced on raising the unfair dismissal qualifying period to two years and permitting judge-only tribunals in unfair dismissal cases. All in all a busy time, with more to come. Politically the suggested reform which fared worst was the idea that small firms should be able to dismiss incapable employees without facing a tribunal, which now appears to be a source of disagreement within the coalition. Watch this space on that one.
On the litigation front, the cases selected for comment in this column lie at the “technical” end of the employment law spectrum and concern the time limit for working time claims, and whether the termination of (20 or more) fixed-term contracts engages
