The IER supports the use of mediation in resolving employment disputes but argues this must be a voluntary measure and the resources available to ACAS must be increased.
Legal officers to make judgements Changes
Legal officers are being given the power to determine some tribunal claims, rather than a judge.
Criticism
" A new tier of legal officers would be cheaper than employment judges but may also be insufficiently knowledgeable and skilled in employment law to handle anything but the simplest of cases. Indeed what is on the face of it a simple claim for, say, unlawful deduction of wages can involve a complicated point or points of law," Anya Palmer stated in the IER ' s response to the ERR BIll.
Our view was supported by Lord Young and Baroness Donaghy in the House of Lords, with the former noting that " decisions made by a legal officer would have the same status as an employment tribunal decision ", despite the fact they are not trained to make such judgements, may not be specialised in employment law and have never been asked to take on this role before.
Baroness Donaghy added that the proposal seems to simply be a way of attempting to procure cheaper legal services without considering the impact on the quality of judgements.
There is no justification for this change to the law and the " savings " the government intends to make in this area are not worth the cost of workers ' access to justice.
Settlement agreements banned as evidence at tribunals Changes
The government is determined to encourage the use of settlement agreements, whereby an employer can offer monetary compensation to settle a dispute rather than the disagreement being resolved through the tribunal process. For this reason, it has made it law that the offer of a settlement agreement to an employee will not be permitted to be used as evidence in unfair dismissal cases.
Criticism
Director of the IER Carolyn Jones described these changes as part of a " a bullies ' charter in the making " back in March 2012, when they were still merely proposals. Even the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development agreed with her, stating that " failings in management and leadership … are a far greater brake on growth
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