Unfair Dismissal changes just Unfair

Dear Sir

A media fire storm has engulfed the Government following the budget with thousands of column inches dedicated to the pasty tax, cash-for-access scandal and the Chancellor’s hidden raid on pensioners.

Important as these issues are, the media ought to be focusing attention on looming employment law changes that will mean around 2.7 million workers across the UK could face an increased risk of losing their jobs.

Increasing the qualifying period for protection from unfair dismissal from one year to two years on Good Friday (6 April) will increase job insecurity, discriminate against younger workers, part-time women workers and employees from black and ethnic communities.
Cutting back on protection against unfair dismissal will do nothing to boost the economy. If people are constantly in fear of losing their jobs it will lead to even less consumer spending, and losing your job is one of the worst things that can happen to anyone, especially when unemployment is so high.
Research for the Department for Business (BIS) published in October 2011 asked 500 small and medium-sized businesses about their main obstacles to success. Just six per cent of small businesses listed regulation, or 'red tape', as their main barrier to growth.There is no evidence that a shorter qualifying period has led to job losses or has constrained recruitment. Since 1999 when the qualifying period was last reduced from two years to 12 months, more than 1,750,000 extra jobs have been created in the UK.

These changes are wrong and will do nothing to help deliver the growth in the economy that we all wish to see. Encouraging a 'hire and fire' culture will lead to the creation of insecure employment which is here today and gone tomorrow. The Government should be focussed on supporting working people through these tough economic times rather than pandering to the prejudices of backbench Conservative MPs

Yours sincerely

Rob Johnston

Regional Secretary

Midlands TUC

0121 236 4454

Scrapping unfair dismissal will do nothing to boost the economy, says TUC

Responding to a government call for evidence published today (Thursday) which says that unfair dismissal laws are preventing small companies from taking on staff and could be replaced by "no fault compensated dismissal", Midlands TUC Regional Secretary Rob Johnston said:
"Scrapping protection against unfair dismissal, even for people who have given years of loyal service, will do absolutely nothing to boost the economy. If people are constantly in fear of losing their jobs it will lead to even less consumer spending.
"Losing your job is one of the worst things that can happen to anyone, especially when unemployment is so high. Employees should only be dismissed for fair reasons, as set out in current laws. The clue is in the name - unfair dismissal.
"Employers already have powers to make fair dismissals for misconduct or poor performance. Giving bosses the right to act unfairly may go down well on the backbenches, but it will horrify employees.
"But while this proposal does nothing for growth, it does show the kind of economy those close to the Prime Minister want to create - one in which nasty bosses are given full license to undermine those trying to maintain decent standards.
"We are relieved that the government is calling for evidence rather than simply announcing a change in the law. The TUC will provide evidence that there is no causal link between employment regulation and recruitment, and will demonstrate the real injustices that will result from employers being allowed to sack people on a whim and pay them a derisory arbitrary sum in compensation."

Unfair dismissal reforms will leave three million workers without rights

Government plans to extend the qualifying period for protection against unfair dismissal from one year to two will affect nearly three million workers, the TUC says today (Tuesday) in its submission to the government’s review of the employment tribunal system.The TUC submission says that while more needs to be done to speed up tribunal claims, the government is seeking to do this by restricting access to justice and pricing low-paid vulnerable workers out of the system.
The TUC firmly opposes plans to introduce fees for those wishing to take their employers to employment tribunals, and says that this will have a disproportionate impact on low paid workers. (Nearly 70 per cent of tribunal claimants have average or below average earnings, and more than a third – 35 per cent – earn less than £15,000, according to the Survey of Employment Tribunal Applicants 2008.)
The TUC cites government data showing that young people, ethnic minorities and female part-time workers will be most affected by plans to remove unfair dismissal rights from staff with less than two years’ service:


· 59.2 per cent of employees aged 24 and under have less than two years’ service,
· 30.1 per cent of ethnic minority employees have less than two years’ service, compared with 24.3 per cent of white employees,
· 32.4 per cent of part-time employees have less than two years’ service, compared with 22 per cent of full-time employees, and
· 500,000 female part-time workers will lose out directly as a result of the 12- month extension to the qualifying period.


Extending the qualifying period for unfair dismissal will simply lead to more discrimination claims, causing extra confusion for employers and staff, and adding to the workload of an already over-stretched tribunal service, the TUC says.
The submission says that cases can be speeded up by giving more resources to the tribunal system, improving the enforcement of multiple pay claims and extending Acas’ pre-claim conciliation service. The TUC is concerned however that the government’s plans could undermine the impartiality and effectiveness of this service.
The TUC supports the imposition of automatic penalties for employers who breach an individual’s employment rights but believes that sanctions should be paid directly to the claimant, rather than to the Treasury.
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “While everyone wants to see a quicker and more efficient tribunal system, taking away people’s rights and pricing vulnerable workers out of the system is the worst possible way to achieve this.
“The proposals to restrict protection against unfair dismissal will not only hit young people and female part-time employees the hardest, but will also open the door to more discrimination claims, creating confusion for staff and employers alike.
“There is no credible evidence to show that restricting access to justice actually helps our economy and it’s disappointing that ministers seem so keen to boost bad employment practices.
“If the government is serious about improving the tribunal system it should concentrate much more on encouraging disputes to be resolved before they get to court.”