THE NEW ACT contains 42 new rights for
employees, some of which have already come into effect.
The main ones affecting us are:Parental leave
The Parental Leave Directive applies to a parent, who has 12 months service with the
company, of any child born after 15th December 1999. Either parent can take up to 13 weeks
unpaid leave of absence per child, to look after the child, for each child aged up to 5,
with a maximum of 4 weeks at a time.
Cherie Blair thinks her husband’s Government has been too mean with its
implementation, and the Directive should apply to any child under the age of 5 on 15th
December, not born after 15th December. She is taking the matter up with the courts on
behalf of the TUC. I shall report further.
Disciplinary Provisions
In June 1999, the qualifying period for Unfair Dismissal claims was reduced from 2 years
to 1 year’s service. At the |
same time, the maximum amount of compensatory
award was raised from £12,000 to £50,000, although the amount of a week’s pay for
Unfair Dismissal or Redundancy remains at a maximum of £220.Union Representation.
From Summer 2000, any employee will have the right to be represented by a Trade Union
official at a disciplinary hearing under the Company’s disciplinary procedure. The
Union does not have to be recognised by the Company for collective bargaining purposes.
Union Recognition
From Summer 2000, employees of any business employing more than 21 people will have the
right to ask for their Trade Union to be recognised for collective bargaining on pay and
conditions.
To do this, they need to have:
- 10% of the work force (i.e. 3 people) in membership of the Union, in order to demand a
ballot of the full work force |
- 40% of those voting to vote in
favour of Union recognition.Maternity Leave
For women whose expected week of confinement is after 29th April 2000, maternity leave is
increased from 14 to 18 weeks before the birth. The qualifying period of service is
reduced from 2 years to 1 year.
Time off for Dependants
From a date in the future, a spouse, a parent, a child or a close dependent will have the
right to unpaid time off for care, birth, death or unexpected incident involving a child.
PUWER & LOLER
In the main, my audits have confirmed that we are observing the main provisions of these
two pieces of legislation.
I have found one or two non-conformances, which have been
rectified immediately, and co-operation at all levels has been good. |
