Chief Fire Officers Association Peoples Summit 2014 Employment

Chief Fire Officers Association Peoples Summit 2014 Employment Law Daniella Mc. Guigan and Alison Heaton 2 April 2014

Agenda: § What’s new? § new Employment Tribunal rules; and § ACAS Early Conciliation § Changes to TUPE § Zero hours contracts

New Employment Tribunal Rules § Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 § Employment Tribunal fees § Settlement agreements § Whistleblowing “public interest” and “good faith” § Financial penalties for respondents § Equality Act discrimination questionnaires

ACAS Early Conciliation § Voluntary from 6 April 2014 but mandatory from 6 May 2014 § Claimant must contact ACAS via prescribed form in advance § ACAS Conciliator attempts to promote settlement § Time limits are “paused” while negotiating § Claimant is issued a certificate if it fails § Employment Tribunal will refuse a claim that does not have a certificate

TUPE – key principles § Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 § “Relevant transfer” § Automatic transfer principle § Protection of terms and conditions, and against dismissal in connection with a TUPE transfer unless ETO reason § Obligation to inform and consult

Changes to TUPE. . . how might they affect you? (1) § Collective Redundancies and Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 § Service provision must be “fundamentally or essentially the same” as before the transfer § Collective agreements § ‘Static’ interpretation of collective agreements § Renegotiation of collectively agreed terms permitted one year after transfer, provided any changes are no less favourable to employees overall

Changes to TUPE. . . how might they affect you? (2) § Dismissals § Automatically unfair if “sole or principal reason” is the transfer § If an ETO reason - potentially fair on grounds of redundancy or some other substantial reason § "Changes in the workforce" for the purposes of the ETO defence to include a change of work place § The transferee employer can carry out redundancy consultation with transferring employees before the transfer takes place § The transferor’s obligation to provide employee liability information will be increased to 28 days from 1 May 2014.

Zero hours contracts § Government consultation § Exclusivity clauses § Transparency § DAC Beachcroft survey § Next steps

People Summit 2014 2 -3 April @CFOAfire #People. Summit