GIBBONS REPORT: existing regime over-reliant on procedures


Employment lawyers urged the government this week to move quickly on the findings of an independent review that has recommended scrapping the existing statutory regime for resolving workplace disputes.



The report by Michael Gibbons, a member of the Better Regulation Commission, called for clear, simple and non-prescriptive guidelines for employers on grievances, discipline and dismissal.



It also said the existing dispute resolution regime should be ditched because of its over-reliance on procedures and tribunal hearings.



The Department of Trade & Industry (DTI), which commissioned the review, has now launched a consultation on how employment disputes can be resolved faster, more efficiently and without automatic recourse to tribunals.



Michael Short, chairman of the Law Society's employment committee and a consultant at Short Richards & Forth in Newcastle, said the committee wholeheartedly endorsed the review's recommendations to revoke entirely the dispute resolution regulations, extend Acas conciliation periods, and simplify the employment tribunal application process.



He added: 'I hope the DTI will be persuaded of the need to act on these recommendations, and that the necessary parliamentary time will be made available.'



Dr John McMullen, head of employment at Newcastle and Leeds firm Watson Burton, said the overall consensus in the profession was that the statutory dispute procedures - in place since 1 October 2004 - were creating more problems than they were solving.



He said: 'They're too prescriptive, complicated and procedural. Employers find them burdensome and difficult to understand and employees describe the application process as like completing a tax return. There are real access to justice issues here.'



Dr McMullen added that the focus of employment lawyers was increasingly on getting employer and employee into mediation rather than going directly to a tribunal - reducing the stress on the individuals concerned and minimising the impact on the business itself.



Jonathan Rayner