3.The purposes of the Employment Act 2008 are summarised in the following paragraphs. They are diverse, repealing and amending existing legislation in the field of employment and trade union law.
4.In these notes the following abbreviations are used:
| Abbreviation | Description |
|---|---|
| Acas | The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service |
| AMW | Agricultural Minimum Wage |
| CFAVs | Cadet Force Adult Volunteers |
| EA 2002 | The Employment Act 2002 |
| EAA 1973 | The Employment Agencies Act 1973 |
| ERA 1996 | The Employment Rights Act 1996 |
| ETA 1996 | The Employment Tribunals Act 1996 |
| HMRC | HM Revenue & Customs |
| NMW | National Minimum Wage |
| NMWA 1998 | The National Minimum Wage Act 1998 |
| Statutory procedures | Statutory workplace dispute resolution procedures |
| TCEA 2007 | The Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 |
| TULRCA 1992 | The Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 |
5.The Act is comprised of 23 sections and is divided as follows:
Sections 1-7 make certain changes to the law relating to dispute resolution in the workplace. In particular, they repeal the existing statutory dispute resolution procedures and related provisions about procedural unfairness in dismissal cases (sections 1 and 2). They also: confer on employment tribunals discretionary powers to amend awards if parties have failed to comply with a relevant Code of Practice (section 3); make changes to the law relating to conciliation by Acas (sections 5 and 6); amend tribunals’ powers by which they may reach a determination without a hearing (section 4); and allow tribunals to award compensation for financial loss in certain types of monetary claim (section 7).
Sections 8-12 make changes to the enforcement of the national minimum wage by: introducing a new method of calculating arrears (section 8); replacing the current enforcement and penalty notices with a single notice of underpayment which will include a civil penalty against employers who have not complied with NMW requirements (section 9); increasing the civil enforcement powers available to officers enforcing the NMW (section 10); making offences under NMWA 1998 each way offences (capable of being tried in a Crown court – with a potentially unlimited fine – or a Magistrates’ court) (section 11); and increasing the criminal investigative powers available to officers enforcing the NMW (section 12).
Section 13 clarifies that CFAVs do not qualify for the NMW.
Section 14 amends section 44 of NMWA 1998 to broaden the type of expenses that can be reimbursed to voluntary workers without triggering eligibility for the NMW.
Sections 15-16 amend the employment agency standards enforcement regime by making offences under EAA 1973 each way offences and conferring additional inspection powers on the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate. Section 17 enables partners to be prosecuted where offences have been committed by partnerships in Scotland and any of the partners are culpable.
Section 18 allows officers appointed under the NMWA 1998 and officers appointed under the EAA 1973 to share information with each other for the purpose of their respective enforcement functions.
Section 19 amends trade union membership law to ensure UK compliance with the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights on Aslef v UK(1). The amendments enable trade unions to apply membership rules which prohibit individuals who belong or who have belonged to a particular political party from membership of the trade union provided certain conditions are satisfied.
Sections 20-23 deal with general details of the Act.
(Application no: 11002/05)
