Right of appeal row at council

An internal dispute over employment rights is threatening to escalate after staff working for a London council claimed their right of appeal had been removed from their contracts without debate.

Employees at Barking and Dagenham Council claim that, as of this week, their right to appeal to councillors against disciplinary action or job grades has been removed after the council’s assembly nodded through the changes earlier this month.

Council managers said the removal of the right was an attempt to modernise HR procedures at the council and improve its annual performance score.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

Email(Required)

OptOut

From time to time, we will send you emails about selected products, events and services from Personnel Today and OHW+ - but you can choose to opt-out at any time. If you do not wish to receive these emails, please tick this box.

Comments

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Δ

Head of HR, Christine Shepherd, rejected the union claim that staff were not properly consulted over the changes.

“There has been extensive consultation with the council’s unions and the chief executive has met with them personally,” she said.