Next year will see a reduction in bureaucratic law on businesses, an employment expert at Black Country law firm George Green has said.
But partner Tim Lang said red tape would still be a problem with new employee rights and regulations, which will continue to add to business worries.
The past year has been a difficult one for employers, with many changes made to laws about employment.
This included the introduction of new EU rules that could see temporary workers receiving the same rights as full-time staff. Members of the European Parliament backed the agreement designed to give workers a level playing field at work.
But Mr Lang said: “There are fewer new big changes to employment law in 2009 than in previous year, but businesses are still feeling the pressure from having to adapt to age and gender and disability discrimination legislation, the changes to maternity regulations and the treatment of agency workers, and the constant tightening of employment law as a result of employment tribunal decisions. All of these are now additional factors which have to be taken into account in any business restructuring, which involves redundancies or changes of employment terms.”
He said the main piece of good news for employers in 2009 would be the repeal of the statutory dismissal and grievance procedures and its replacement by the ACAS code of practice. This comes into force in April, as part of the introduction of the 2008 Employment Act.
“Following the statutory procedures had become a bureaucratic nightmare for some employers, with the risk that even a technical infringement could lead to them being found automatically to have treated an employee unfairly and losing the case at an employment tribunal,” said Mr Lang.
Under the new ACAS code of practice, which is available for viewing on the ACAS website, this presumption of automatic unfairness will no longer be made if employers do not follow the principles of the code.
He added: “The effect should be to remove a number of trip wires which often caught out employers and employees, particularly the whole issue of grievance letters and responding to them, and to make it easier and less bureaucratic for both employers and employees to defend and pursue claims.
“There will also be a new emphasis on getting ACAS involved in disputes at a much earlier stage and removing the fixed periods when they can and cannot intervene.
“Judgements by the appeal courts will continue to keep businesses on their toes with regard with to changing employment regulations. There are a number of key cases each year which effectively update the legal position as far as employees are concerned and 2009 will be no different, so businesses need to ensure that they remain up-to-date with the latest position and take legal advice on an ongoing basis.”
