Legal News

The head of the employment law review at Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) has said that the department would be issuing a call for evidence on whistleblowing and the Public Interest Disclosure Act later this year.

Lakhbir Hans, the head said that after the major changes to employment tribunals this summer which saw an introduction of fees and caps on awards, the government would be considering other aspects of employment law on a case by case basis.

Speaking to the Westminster employment law forum, she said the main area of focus would be the area of implementation of the changes that has been announced. But at the same time ministers were looking at the effectiveness of whistleblowing legislation.
Under the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, currently in parliament, whistleblowers would only need to show that they acted in the public interest, rather than 'in good faith.
Hans said there would also be a consultation with businesses, especially small ones, to make sure they were better informed about the government's reform programme.
UK was still a very soft on regulations which was partly why it had a positive employment trends despite difficult economic circumstances she added.
Mike Emmott, employee relations adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said the policies were reaching the limits of the deregulation debate.
He said that he was not seeing any great deal of interest in the employers for major incursions into the UK law. Beecroft and the employee shareholders scheme have sparked more liberal attitudes from employers than it might seem from the press.
Politics should be separated from the debate about employment regulations. Ministers should be interested in growth, performance and good practice, where things were besieged.
This may give a way out for the UK to get away from the terrible debate about repatriating employment law from Europe.
The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill reached its discussion stage in the Commons yesterday and will return to the House of Lords next week.
MPs rejected amendments by peers on the Equality and Human Rights Commission and caste discrimination, and agreed to the insertion by the government of a clause on redress schemes for letting agencies.