§ Brian CotterTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what advice her Department has given to small firms about unfair dismissal rules introduced under the Employment Act 2002. [144235]
§ Mr. SutcliffePart 3 of the Employment Act 2002 set out a framework of new minimum statutory dismissal and disciplinary and grievance procedures, and also made some changes to the law on unfair dismissal and on employment particulars. The detailed operation of disciplinary and grievance procedures was left to be specified via secondary legislation. This was laid before Parliament on 20 January 2004, and is anticipated to come into force on 1 October 2004.
All employers, regardless of size, will normally be required to follow these minimum procedures before dismissing employees—failure to do so may result in a tribunal finding the dismissal automatically unfair. In addition, in ordinary unfair dismissal cases, the employment tribunals will continue to take account of the Acas Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures in deciding whether or not an employer acted reasonably in dismissing. Acas launched this month a public consultation on a revised version of their Code of Practice.
The Government will put in hand an extensive guidance and advice campaign in good time for implementation, in consultation with small firms and other advisory organisations. This will inform employers and employees as necessary of the new rights and responsibilities created by this part of the Employment Act.