[IER] Govt promises workers more rights ... while resurrecting employment tribunal fees

Fri Nov 9 17:06:15 GMT 2018

IER News Brief 09/11/18Follow us on Twitter  
news brief
Friday 09th November 2018
The government will introduce new employment rights for the most vulnerable workers, it was reported today, but its proposals - borrowed from the Taylor Review - do little for most of the workforce, and it comes at the same time it formulates a new plan to charge workers to access justice.

According to information obtained by the Guardian, Theresa May has backed legislation to better protect agency workers, including closing the Swedish Derogation (a legal loophole that allows temporary staff to be paid less than their permanent peers) and imposing fines on employment agencies that withold holiday and sick pay.

"Gig" workers were promised the right to "request" (but not to receive) temporary or fixed-hours contracts after 12 months of continuous service (to be defined...), and clarification as to the difference between a "worker" and an "independent contractor".

Elsewhere, the government said it would investigate modern slavery at car washes, consider merging labour standards agencies, consider providing workers with the right to notice and compensation for cancelled shifts, and give all workers the right to a payslip.

If a worker's rights are breached and their employer refuses to pay out court-ordered compensation in full (as happens in two-thirds of cases), that employer could soon be "named and shamed", but aside from the dubious effectiveness of this punishment, whether this is a boon for workers depends entirely on whether they retain their right to access justice in the first place.

And it seems that vital right may be up for grabs once more, as Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Justice, Richard Heaton, told the House of Commons Justice Select Committee earlier this week that his department was formulating a new tribunal fees scheme.

The last programme to charge claimants for taking their employers to court was found unlawful by the Supreme Court last year after a judicial review was brought by Unison. The government has since had to pay back over £7 million to affected workers. But Heaton insisted that the Ministry would find another way to charge litigants for enforcing their rights.

It is a key recommendation in the Institute of Employment Rights' Manifesto for Labour Law that employment tribunal fees are not brought back. Further, our proposals for reform go much further than those adopted by the government. 

Boiled down, May's plan for workers' rights is to fiddle while Rome burns - providing a little bit of extra support to those who miss out on holiday pay or are exploited by agencies, while doing nothing to alleviate the suffering of millions whose wage does not cover the basic cost of living. 

We cannot protect vulnerable workers without providing them with equal rights to their peers. We recommend a universal status of 'worker' for all people in employment, providing everyone with the same rights from day one; sectoral collective bargaining to ensure that pay and conditions negotiated by unions and employers are rolled out across all industries, regardless of the employer; and the introduction of a real living wage, because no person in full-time work should be forced to rely on state benefits.

Read more about our recommendations in the Manifesto for Labour Law 

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FEATURED PUBLICATIONS - Access to justice and the problem of feesIn Access to Justice: Exposing the Myths, Andrew Moretta charts the narrative surrounding the “red tape” and “burdens on business” ideology which he believes paved the way for systematic attacks on the tribunal system – most particularly the introduction of fees, cuts to legal aid and the closure of many law centres – all designed to blunt the effectiveness of employment protection. 
Read more and purchase your copy 

Published as part of a two-and-a-half year project by researchers at the University of Bristol, Access to justice in employment disputes brings together expert critique and debate from some of the UK's top specialists in employment tribunals and mediation.

The papers in this book examine the difficulties, challenges and possibilities of the UK’s systems for resolving employment disputes: the ‘forensic lottery’ of the unfair dismissal procedures; the role for Acas and others in mediation and conciliation; the very particular crisis for employment rights in times of austerity; and the choices faced by an employment tribunal system at the crossroads. 
Read more and purchase your copy Justice Deferred maps out in a concise, easy to read, accessible style and language, a critical guide to changes in employment tribunal rules and procedures including the introduction of fees, the lifting of caps on costs, the ending of witness expenses, the removal of wing members, the end of statutory discrimination questionnaires and more. The authors also look at other changes including unfair dismissal and redundancy rights, the introduction of “employee-ownership” contracts (the rights-for-shares scheme), the notion of “protected conversations” and changes to the Equality and Human Rights Commission. 
Read more and purchase your copy   Events Liverpool: Employment Law Update 2018 - SOLD OUT 
15 November 2018 - 09:30 - 15:00
Unite the Union, Liverpool 
At this popular annual conference, leading lawyers, academics and trade unionists will discuss how employment law has developed over the year so far, how it can be expected to change in the future, and how workers can best be protected.
Speakers include Ian Hodson, Paul Scholey, Prof Alan Bogg, Neill Todd, Prof David Whyte, Catherine Hobby 
> click here to read more and book your place London: Celebrating ILO standards: how does Britain compare? 
05 December 2018 - 09:30 - 15:00
GMB, London 
At this conference, lawyers, academics and leading trade unionists will discuss and debate how we can ensure that the core fundamental principles for workers' rights, adopted by 187 member states 100 years ago, once again form the bedrock of a new, fair and progressive labour law agenda for a post-Brexit UK.
Speakers include John Hendy QC, Amanda Brown, Daniel Blackburn, Tonia Novitz, Steve Gibbons, Carolyn Jones 
> click here to read more and book your place 
  PublicationsLabour Law Highlights 2017: £8 
Edited by Rebecca Tuck 
Catch up with the most important case law developments in 2017 in the latest of our popular Labour Law Highlights series.

In this year’s Labour Law Highlights, a team of barristers from Old Square Chambers returns to assess how each of these events has impacted upon case law in the last 12 months, including clarification from the courts on the requirements of the Trade Union Act in practice, the flurry of tribunal hearings regarding ‘gig’ workers, and further decisions on the rights of workers required to take "sleep-in" shifts. In each case, they provide commentary on the potential wider implications of tribunal decisions. 
> click here to read more and purchase Europe, the EU and Britain: Workers' Rights and Economic Democracy: £8 
Notes from a seminar by the Institute of Employment Rights and the Marx Memorial Library 
On 01 July 2017, labour movement leaders from across Europe met at the Marx Memorial Library, London, to discuss how a progressive future for workers’ rights can be sought following the UK’s vote to leave the EU. This report documents the meeting, including the transcripts of each presentation, as well as notes on the discussion between panel and delegates on the day. 
> click here to read more and purchase The Legacy of Thatcherism in European Labour Relations: The Impact of the Politics of Neo-Liberalism and Austerity on Collective Bargaining in a Fragmenting Europe: £8 
By Miguel Martinez Lucio, Aristea Koukiadaki and Isabel Tavora 
As the UK prepares to leave the European Union, this analysis – the 11th in our Comparative Notes series – shines a light on the deleterious effect of the nation's deregulatory influence on the bloc. 
> click here to read more and purchase 8 Good Reasons Why Adult Social Care Needs Sectoral Collective Bargaining: £8 
By Dr Lydia Hayes 
In this booklet, Dr Lydia Hayes sets out the lessons learned from her interdisciplinary research into the social care sector, and builds upon the recommendations made in the Institute of Employment Rights' Manifesto for Labour Law: a comprehensive revision of worker’s rights to propose a sectoral collective bargaining structure for the negotiation of wages and conditions. 
> Click here to read more and buy your copy 
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