Hello I’m Jaee Samant and I am the Director of the Labour Market Directorate in the Department for Business (BIS). Welcome to our new blog.
You may already know this but BIS stands for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Put simply, we believe in business as a force for good in society. Our purpose is to connect people to opportunity and prosperity and help businesses succeed. Within BIS, my Directorate is responsible for the framework of employment law in Great Britain and for maximizing opportunities in the labour market while minimising exploitation. The idea for this blog is for us to post regularly on our work.
To give you a bit of background: in 2010 the Government decided to review all employment law in response to perceptions that it was costly, time consuming and complicated. The Employment Law Review (ELR) was designed to address these concerns while still ensuring that people are treated properly and fairly in the workplace. Last year we published this document which explains how we are improving employment laws.
Because the programme of reform is wide-ranging, we want to make sure that those affected (employers, employees, but also relevant professionals such as HR and lawyers) understand them. We want to explain how and why changes have been carried out, but we also want to dispel some of the myths and misconceptions that might be out there. We also want to hear your ideas on how we can improve the labour market for individuals and employers!
As this is a new way of communicating with you, my plan is to run the blog for a 6 month trial period to see if we are getting it right. We will post regularly (at least once a fortnight) and you can expect posts on a wide range of topics, ranging from enforcement of tribunal awards to how new policies, like shared parental leave, will work in practice.
I believe that my teams will give better policy advice to Ministers by using this blog to explain, discuss and clarify the policies we are working on. The blog is here for you to express your views direct to me and my team and we in turn will listen. I welcome any comments you may have.
13 comments
Comment by Alan Clark posted on
Fantastic idea
Employment law frightens many employers and sometimes dissuades them from employing someone.
There are a lot of myths around.
If this blog dispells many or most of them it will have done well
Comment by Jaee Samant posted on
Thanks everyone for your interest! I’m glad to hear this blog could be helpful and interesting to read. Please look out for further posts on employment law and labour market issues, You’ll see we have a new post up on early conciliation.
Comment by Andy Shettle posted on
Hi Jaee, I am looking forward to reading the blog posts over the coming months especially around employment law. We work in similar fields, Workforce Metrics provides employee relations software to organisations to improve compliance with their HR policies and increase transparency and fairness in how ER cases are handled, put simply our software can measure equitability of case outcomes.
Comment by Richard M Fox posted on
Very best of luck with this initiative.
It would be good to understand a little more about what this is looking to achieve, in the context of the other channels of communication into BIS, and who will be reviewing the comments etc.
Comment by Jaee Samant posted on
You asked what the blog is trying to achieve and how we’d respond to comments. The blog is to explain what we do and to challenge some of the myths around employment law. As I mentioned in the post this blog is also to give us another way to listen to individuals and employers’ experiences of the labour market – as we aim to do in all our work. With regards to comments, the labour market team here in BIS will read every comment and in liaison with the blog author reply to relevant points raised – and going forward, we will also aim to do so more speedily than we have done on this occasion!
Comment by Dave Ratchford posted on
"We also want to hear your ideas on how we can improve the labour market for individuals and employers!"
1. Reduce the qualifying period for unfair dismissal to day one on the job. If it's unfair, it's unfair, right?
2. Eliminate the ridiculously unfair Employment Tribunal fees. I don't pay to have the police involved if my house us broken into, neither should I pay to access justice if my job is 'stolen' from me.
3. Reinstate the Equality Questionnaire which the Discrimination Law Association (of which I am a member), identifies as integral to successful pursuit of justice in workplace discrimination cases.
That would be a good start for today.
Comment by Jaee Samant posted on
Thank you for the three points you raised. They relate to really important considerations we’ve had to factor in to what we’ve been legislating on over in this Parliament. For each I’ll explain our rationale for what we have done, and I hope that helps explain how the policy was developed: -
• Re Unfair dismissal. It is perhaps a misleading term. It doesn't mean you can dismiss people unfairly in their first two years’ of employment, before they have statutory protection against unfair dismissal. It means an employer can choose to end an employment contract for reasons such as requiring different skills or the relationship not working out as hoped, without having to consider options such as redundancy, upskilling or formal performance management processes. We think it is important that employers have this flexibility to efficiently manage their work forces, especially during the first two years’ of someone’s employment. And of course, there are a number of reasons – such as outright discrimination – that are illegal right from day one of employment.
• Re Tribunal fees. We know there is a balance to strike with ensuring people with genuine cases are not deterred. Government will review the impact of fees and the operation of the remissions system and would welcome any evidence or experiences of the system. Details of this review are still being confirmed but we will update you once we know more.
• Re the equality questionnaire. Workers can still ask their employers questions about discrimination in the workplace and Tribunals can still take notice of responses given by employers, but you are right, the questionnaire is no longer statutory. ACAS has produced a practical guide to the process here [link], that includes a template questionnaire, and I know your organisation has been involved in developing that.
Comment by John Rudkin posted on
I look forward to hearing more. My experience of Employment Law is dire and very disappointing. I have had to resort to defending myself at an employment tribunal when I took a certain Council on. I couldn't afford to hire a solicitor/barrister because of the circumstance I was left in. The employer did nothing to try and resolve the dispute (which was caused by them not following procedures, and other constructive points). Now I am watching another tribunal with the same employer where costs to the defendant are already exceeding £70k (and it was whistleblowing).
The impact on me (part of my issue should really have been under whistleblowing) on those who do not have public money to throw at our cases is huge. It is more than about money though, when bullying tactics and misinformation is spread. Won't someone stand up for the few who try to take on monolithic organisation bent on doing things their way. I have seen (what I call) massive wastes of public money and nasty tactics. Forget ACAS, they were toothless in in my case - far too nice. There has to be a change, and there should be a totally separate and dispassionate independent body to look for patterns of deceptions........
Comment by Jaee Samant posted on
Thanks for your comment. I am sorry to hear about your experience. We will have a post soon on whistleblowing explaining some of issues in this area. So please look out for that.
Comment by Fiona Hayes posted on
Totally agree with John Rudkin. Big companies have it all their own way and the worker is totally ignored even if they have a valid claim or point to make. The so called 'justice' system disallows most from being able to do anything.The balance has to shift at some point. After all its the workers that make the company. Not the other way about.
Comment by Kevin McNerney posted on
Thanks and this looks like a useful blog. Let's be clear however that many people will see what is happening in Employment Law as anything but 'reform'. You may want to reread Orwell's definition of doublespeak prior to every posting. The bottom line is Employment Law needs to strike a balance between not stopping jobs being created by SMEs and protecting individuals.
Good luck with this venture.
Kevin McNerney
St Johns Buildings
Sheffield.
Comment by Fiona Hayes posted on
I know that employment law is very complex and the ordinary man will not understand its complexities but I have been trying to get a question answered by the BIS and anyone else I can think of and I am coming up against a brick wall. Tribunals have now become so expensive that it is out of reach of the normal worker so that is not a route I am able to take. If anyone can answer this question I would be grateful. According to the Working Time (Amendment) Regulations 2001 and the Working Time (Amendment) Regulation 2007 a worker will accrue holidays in the first year of employment. So, if after the first year a company is still making workers accrue holidays before being able to take them, is this a breach of the regulations or is there a further amendment allowing this? I cannot for the life of me find anything on this point and would be grateful for some clarity on this question. I have already been told that the BIS does not deal with Regulation, but I believe, according to all I have read, that any questions should be directed to this Department in regards business. Any comment welcome.
Comment by Rennie Andoh posted on
Thanks for your comment Fiona. I’m sorry that we cannot comment on individual cases, but I can direct you to the relevant guidance, it is here. According to that guidance, employers must provide statutory annual leave but have discretion over when an individual takes their leave. ACAS also provide support, see here, which may be useful in resolving any dispute.