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Acas launches consultation on revised discipline and grievance code

Acas has this month issued a consultation draft code of practice on discipline and grievance.  The draft code anticipates the Employment Bill currently before Parliament and, unlike the current version, is a concise, principles based text.

The Employment Bill was introduced in December 2007, following the 2006 review of employment dispute resolution undertaken by Michael Gibbons and subsequent public consultation. The Bill proposes changes to the law relating to workplace dispute resolution, including the repeal of the statutory dismissal and discipline procedures introduced in 2004, and the new code is intended to complement the new simplified regime.

Acas has now produced a 6 page flexible principles based code, which provides basic practical guidance to employers, employees and their representatives on handling disciplinary and grievance situations in the workplace.  The new code will, like the Highway Code for driving, set out good practice standards for disciplining staff.

The foreword to the draft code states that employment tribunals would be entitled to increase any awards made by up to 25% should they consider any failure to comply with any provision of the code unreasonable. This uplift is proposed in the Employment Bill. 

The draft code and penalties for non-compliance firmly indicate the increased importance of the Acas code in dispute resolution and a shift away from rigid statutory procedures.  Consultation on the draft code ends on 25 July 2008.  The Employment Bill is currently before Parliament, and the government plans to introduce the changes in April 2009.  The revised Acas code is intended to come into effect on the same date.

Please click here to read the full article.

For the full text of the draft Code, please click here.

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