Product category:
Printing Trade Organisations - including Allied Industry Bodies
News Release from: BPIF
Edited by the Printingtalk Editorial
Team on 25 March 2004
BPIF Urges UK Government Action On
Tribunals
The BPIF is urging the UK government to change the regulations relating to employment tribunals to allow employers to claim for losses suffered during the course of a hearing.
The BPIF is urging the UK government to change the regulations relating to employment tribunals to allow employers to claim for losses suffered during the course of a hearing Currently employers who are represented by in-house counsel, such as lawyers provided by their trade association, have no access to any form of financial recompense despite the significant amount of management time taken up by such proceedings
This article was originally published on Printingtalk on 23 Aug 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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Responding to the draft regulations Anne Copley, head of the BPIF's legal department said: "The BPIF is adamant that members should have the right to claim for losses.
Under the current draft regulations preparation time awards are only available to those employers who are not legally represented.
Yet employers have to defend cases, whether or not the claimant has received good legal advice as to the merits of the case, and this often leads to considerable financial losses for managers." The BPIF has put forward proposals, which would put employers on an equal footing with all other parties before the tribunal so that any party who has been put to expense in dealing with a misconceived or spurious claim can be recompensed.
The government is looking at the employment tribunal regulations as part of a wider review of dispute resolution.
When workplace discussions fail, the employment tribunals - supported by the work of the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) - provide an independent judicial forum for finding a resolution.
The government's proposals to improve this system have been broadly welcomed by the BPIF.
The BPIF said its legal team has substantial experience in dealing with employment tribunals and, in common with the government and employees alike, has a strong interest in seeing the number of tribunals reduced and the regulations simplified.
Anne Copley assures members that the BPIF "will continue to put pressure on the government to recognise the needs of responsible employers who incur losses in the course of responding to tribunal claims".
For more information about this consultation those interested are advised to visit the DTI's website.
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