§ Mr. David Youngasked the Lord Privy Seal if the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster will hold discussions with employers to see that workers of either sex are not financially penalised or become liable to redundancy because they stand for the magistracy; an if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. BiffenThe Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978 requires employers to permit employees who are justices of the peace to take reasonable time off to perform their duties. The Act also provides that dismissal on the grounds of redundancy may be unfair if the employee is selected on inadmissible grounds of if customary arrangements or agreed procedures have been contravened. Where an employee feels that he is not given reasonable time off, or that he has been unfairly dismissed on the grounds of redundancy, it is open to him to take the matter to an industrial tribunal.
Magistrates are entitled to claim an allowance for loss of earnings incurred while performing their duties on the bench.