News in brief

Here
are this month’s Employers’ Law’s news in brief

Delays
to dispute resolution procedures

The
Government has announced delays to the implementation of dispute resolution
procedures under the Employment Act 2002. The measures, including mandatory
disciplinary and grievance procedures and tribunal reforms, were due to come in
later this year but are now unlikely to appear before next April. Further
consultation will take place in the summer.

Draft
Disability Bill

A
draft Disability Bill is due to be published later in the year. This amends the
current Disability Discrimination Act in line with the Government’s proposals
of last year, including extending the definition of disability and removing the
current exemption for small employers.

Commission
to overhaul data protection code

The
Information Commission is to overhaul all four sections of its employment code
on data protection to make it simpler for employers to understand and use. It
is to make the presentation of the codes more user-friendly and perhaps make
them shorter. The first section to be revamped will be the long awaited
monitoring code, which was due to be published last year. This will further
delay its publication, and also put back the fourth section on medical codes to
later this year.

DTI
appeal set for May

The
DTI’s appeal against a landmark tribunal ruling giving employment rights to
workers over the age of 65 is to be heard by the EAT on 22-23 May. The decision
in Rutherford v Harvest Town Circle gave workers over retirement age the right
to claim unfair dismissal and redundancy payments.

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Costly
Euro legislation

Forty
per cent of the UK’s £20bn red-tape bill is due to European legislation,
according to a new study. London and Manchester Business Schools and the
British Chambers of Commerce estimate that the cost of new regulations to
British business has risen by £6bn since last year. The burden covers
legislation on data protection, employment, pensions, criminal justice and
environmental legislation.