The Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) has reported that the Government today published the Employment Simplification Bill.

 

The Bill will:

• repeal the statutory dispute resolution procedures. Acas will be revising its statutory Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures and the Bill provides for tribunals to adjust awards where parties have unreasonably failed to follow the Code of Practice.
• provide an equitable method for calculating national minimum wage (NMW) pay arrears.
• strengthen the Employment Agency Standards enforcement regime.
• increase the maximum penalty for underpayment of the NMW, or employment agency offences, to an unlimited fine (currently a maximum penalty of £5,000).
• ensure compliance with the European Court of Human Rights judgment in Aslef v UK (trade unions' rights to determine their membership).