EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations relate to the right to make an application under section 63D of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (“the 1996 Act”) to enable the employee to spend time undertaking study or training.
The Regulations set out the way in which an employer must deal with an application under section 63D for the purposes of section 63F of the 1996 Act.
Regulation 3 sets out the circumstances in which, at an employee’s request, an employer must ignore an earlier application.
Regulation 4 provides that the employer must either hold a meeting to discuss the application or agree to the application in writing within 28 days after the date of receipt. Regulations 5 and 6 make provision about how the employer must notify the employee of the decision on the application. Regulation 7 provides that the employer may grant an altered form of the application by agreeing variations with the employee.
Regulations 8-12 set out the employee’s right to appeal against the employer’s decision. The employee must appeal in writing, setting out the grounds of appeal, within 14 days after the date on which the notice of the decision is given. The employer must hold a meeting to hear the appeal within 14 days after the date on which the notice of appeal is given and notify the employee of the decision within 14 days after the meeting.
Regulation 13 provides that the time and place of meetings must be convenient to both the employer and employee.
Regulations 14 and 15 set out circumstances in which time limits specified in the Regulations may be extended.
Regulation 16 provides that an employee has the right to be accompanied at the meeting to discuss the application or appeal by a worker employed by the same employer and regulation 17 enables the employee to complain to an employment tribunal where the employer has failed or threatened to fail to allow this. Regulation 18 ensures that both the companion and the employee are protected from detriment or dismissal in relation to the exercise of the right to be accompanied.
Regulation 19 sets out when an employer must treat an application as withdrawn.
Regulation 20 specifies how an employee is to comply with the duty to inform the employer if the employee fails to start or complete study or training or undertakes, or proposes to undertake, study or training that differs from that which was agreed.
A full impact assessment of the effect that these Regulations will have on the costs of business is available from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, 1 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0ET.