New Clause 6
Employment Bill [Lords]
3:45 pm
Jonathan Djanogly (Shadow Minister, Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform; Huntingdon, Conservative)
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
I shall be brief, as I have already used a lot of the evidence in support of the new clause when speaking to the earlier new clauses. I want to add some certainty to employment proceedings that I have been led to believe does not currently exist. The employment tribunal service covers 21 different jurisdictions, ranging from unfair dismissal, of which there were 44,491 cases last year, to cases of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. In many of those different areas, the various time limits for bringing claims vary, and what I propose under the new clause is that the time limit is standardised when such claims are dealt with by employment tribunals. I suggest that it should be three months—the time limit that is attached to unfair dismissal.
The new clause would have two benefits. On the one hand, companies could accurately predict at what point likely proceedings would be brought against them; while on the other hand, the employment tribunal process would be unburdened of those cases that have become a dim memory for those giving evidence, thereby ensuring that evidence is clear, concise and factually relevant. The provision would also tie in well with the tribunal procedural parts of the Bill, as people will have less excuse to not know where they stand at any point in the process.