Employee Relations News
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EQUALITY BILL
MARCH 2010
The Equality Bill started its progress through Parliament with wide support of the aim of consolidating and simplifying many separate pieces of discrimination law.
Recently, the Press and Media concentrated on the Pope, Anglican Bishops and other churches and religious organisations criticising the Government’s proposals on religious discrimination. This concerned the part of the Bill that it was claimed interfered with churches ability to restrict employment in some posts to people whose lifestyles and/or beliefs are compatible with the doctrines and ethos of the church. However there are other contentious parts of the Bill such as positive action on discrimination, regulating pre-employment questionnaires, and enabling a discrimination claim to be on more than one ground.
It is already clear from the House of Lords stage of the Bill that it may not be enacted without significant amendments; we expect of our parliamentarians to sort out potential anomalies and problems in legislation. However this may delay progress and depending on the date of the election (not known at the time of writing) the Bill may pass into limbo. Whether the Bill survives after the election may depend on a new Government’s priorities.
As the overall aim of consolidation and simplification was so widely supported it will be a great shame if this Bill is lost for whatever reason. Lyme Bay Consulting will be monitoring and reporting on any developments.
REVIEW OF STATUTORY LIMITS & PAYMENTS
From 1st February 2010:
Unfair Dismissal – maximum compensation award has fallen from £66,200 to £65,300.
From April, 2010
Statutory Maternity, Paternity and Adoption pay increased from £123.06 to £124.08 per week.
Exceptionally in October 2009 the Government increased the maximum week’s pay for calculating the Basic Award for Unfair Dismissal and for Statutory Redundancy Pay to £380. Therefore there will be no increase from February this year and the next review will be in February 2011.
Small Print
Lyme Bay Consulting aims to make these MONTHLY NEWS items fresh and relevant. However by its very nature, news may be an interpretation of events at the time or what is expected in the future and may change as the reported matters progress. Readers should not take the information or advice given as applicable to their specific or generic circumstances.
Archived News
February 2010 - Age of retirement...