Follow the paper trail

The department of trade and industry had a busy July: publishing consultation papers on informing and consulting employees, age discrimination and the statutory dispute resolution procedures.

The first paper and attached draft regulations set out the government's proposals to give effect to the European directive on information and consultation.

If enacted, the regulations will apply to all organisations with more than 50 employees. They provide that, at the request of 10% of the employees, the organisation must set up a workforce committee enabling full information and consultation with the workforce to take place. Special provisions apply where existing workforce arrangements are already in place. The obligation to inform and consult covers:

• the development of the business
  
• changes in employment patterns
  
• decisions likely to lead to substantial changes in work organisation, such as changes to terms and conditions
  
• TUPE transfers
  
• collective redundancies.

It is also proposed that the Central Arbitration Committee and the Employment Tribunal will have new sanctions for employers that do not comply. These include the power to impose a fine of up to £75,000.

Organisations that do not have workforce committees would be well advised to take steps to implement such arrangements now.

The second paper seeks to outlaw age discrimination in employment and vocational training. The government is seeking views on issues including:

• the abolition of mandatory retirement ages set by employers unless these can be objectively justified
  
• the possibility of a default retirement age of 70, after which a dismissal would be fair
  
• changes to unfair dismissal and redundancy legislation so that calculations for the basic award and redundancy pay are not linked to age.

The third paper covers statutory dispute resolution procedures. This issue was a cornerstone of the 2002 Employment Act, but regulations have yet to be implemented and have now been further delayed until October 2004.

The paper sets out a range of options for the implementation of the procedures, together with a set of draft regulations.

The consultation questions include:

• whether or not the disciplinary procedures should apply to oral warnings or suspension
  
• whether the procedures should apply in certain circumstances including circumstances where an employee is violent, abusive or behaving in an unacceptable way n whether a separate code of practice should apply to small employers

Copies of all three papers can be obtained from the DTI website at www.dti.gov.uk.