Welcome to our January Employment newsletter. As always, there will be lots of changes in employment laws this year and employers should prepare in advance. In April we will see the extension of flexible working, the changes to additional paternity leave, and the phasing out of the default retirement age. It will also be essential for many organisations to start making preparations now for the Agency Worker Regulations, which will have a big impact when they come into force in October 2011. Meanwhile, the good news for employers is that the Bribery Act 2010 has been put on hold following widespread concerns. We will be happy to advise you on any of these changes.

The Government has published its consultation on reforming access to the employment tribunal system. Employers will on the whole welcome the proposed reforms, which include:

• Increasing the minimum qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims to two years;
• Requiring the payment of a fee to lodge a claim;
• Requiring all claims to be submitted to Acas to offer pre-claim conciliation.
• Reviewing the calculation of employment tribunal awards and redundancy payments;
• Introducing automatic fines for employers who breach employment rights.

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For children expected or born on or after 3rd April 2011, fathers will be permitted to take up to 6 months APL from when the child is 20 weeks old, provided the mother has returned to work. Additional paternity pay will be paid at the same rate as statutory maternity pay ("SMP") to the extent that the mother has not exhausted her SMP entitlement. Similar rules apply on adoption. Employers should make sure they are aware of the new rights, which are the same as for maternity and include for example, rights in relation to bonus awards, priority over vacancies on redundancy, keeping in touch days and provision of childcare vouchers. You will also need to amend your polices in relation to maternity, paternity, adoption and annual leave.

Tribunal compensation limits increased on 1 February 2011 as follows:

•  the maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal will rise from £65,300 to £68,400;
•  the maximum amount of a week's pay, used to calculate statutory redundancy pay (among other things), will rise from £380 to £400; and 
• the minimum basic award for certain unfair dismissals (dismissals for reasons of: trade union membership or activities; health and safety duties, pension scheme trustee duties; acting as an employee representative), will rise from £4,700 to £5,000.

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The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has decided that an employer did not victimise an employee when it dismissed her after she had raised multiple, false grievances alleging discrimination.

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The Government Equalities Office has published non-statutory guidance on the positive action provisions in the Equality Act 2010, which come into effect on 6 April 2011. The new provisions allow an employer to select a candidate on the basis of a protected characteristic when faced with two or more candidates of equal merit in order to address under representation in the workforce. Protected characteristics include age, sex, disability, sexual orientation, pregnancy, maternity, marriage, civil partnership, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief.

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On 1 January 2011, BIS published a policy to raise awareness of NMW enforcement and to deter employers from falling foul of NMW law. Following investigation, a compliance officer may issue a notice of underpayment requiring payment of NMW arrears and a penalty and employers may also be named by BIS where the total arrears are at least £2,000.

Naming is intended to enable workers to make informed choices about who they work for and businesses to make informed decisions about who they do business with.

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