LONDON BOROUGH OF WALTHAM FOREST

Transcription

1 LONDON BOROUGH OF WALTHAM FOREST Committee/Date: Governance Committee, 28 th June 2007 Title: Directorate: Report of: Contact: Employment Tribunal Decisions Corporate Services Head of Human Resources Phill Cox Phone: E.Mail: Action required: Wards affected: Appendices: For Information None Appendix A: Summary of Reasons for Applications to ET s Appendix B: Summary of Outcomes of ET s Status: Open 1. SUMMARY 1.1. This report outlines the numbers and reasons for Employment Tribunals brought against the Council and the outcomes for the period 1 March st March RECOMMENDATION 2.1. Governance Committee is requested to note the contents of this report and make comments as appropriate 3. REASON FOR DECISION 3.1 The Governance Committee has delegated authority to consider matters of legal compliance. 4 PROPOSAL 4.1 Governance Committee considered a report on 9 th March 2006 regarding employment tribunal claims against the Council and asked that this be reported annually. 4.2 The Council employs approximately 6,000 staff including those based in schools. In line with employment legislation and good - 1

2 practice, the Council has procedures to manage its staff. These are contained in the HR Framework for Managing People. Line managers deal with most issues using the Council s appraisal scheme and they are resolved at that time. 4.3 In a very small minority of cases this proves unsuccessful and so a move to more formal procedures is required and for some this may result in dismissal. The Council has adopted (and is currently reviewing) procedures to deal with situations where this could occur. Those procedures are for: Capability Conduct and discipline Managing Change Managing Sickness 4.4 These procedures have a number of stages to avoid the ultimate decision to dismiss and every effort is made to resolve matters within the Council. However those dismissed have a right to register an employment tribunal claim. 4.5 Since October 2004 the Statutory Dispute Resolution Regulations require individuals to attempt to resolve matters with their employer before taking claims to tribunals. In the short term this has led to an increase in internal grievances. Staff can raise their concerns about how they are treated in their employment by use of the Fairness at Work Procedure (which is the Council s grievance procedure). 4.6 Applications to Employment Tribunals are sometimes seen as the final appeal against a management decision. That is not the purpose of claims to Employment Tribunals, which present the employees exercise of a constitutional right to seek redress for a breach of employment legislation. Not all disputes that might be handled under the Fairness at Work procedure can give rise to an Employment Tribunal claim, but, for some complaints the opportunity to make application to Employment Tribunal arises. In such cases the Tribunal Regulation 2004 have introduced statutory periods of mediation for most claims. These are intended to encourage the parties to reach agreement rather than to litigate and therefore to reduce the number of tribunal claims across the Country. It is perhaps this obligation that has resulted in the significant drop in claims against the Council in There are currently 18 outstanding ET claims against the Council. - 2

3 4.8 In terms of managing an Employment Tribunal the application is normally assessed as to its merits in-house by the employment law and human resources teams. Considerations include the validity of a case, costs to defend the claim, strengths of the Councils defence etc. In some circumstances settlement is reached on economic grounds. Where the Council believes it has a good case it will defend it and if successful claim its costs. 4.9 The Council has settled the majority of claims over the last four years with most being either, withdrawn by the individual or decided in the Council s favour at the tribunal The three top reasons for claiming against the Council during the last year were: Unfair dismissal Disability Discrimination Wage issues 4.12 The details of the employment tribunal claims against the Council are shown in Appendix A. Overall the trend in terms of number of employment tribunals continues downwards. It is believed that the active management of claims described above is assisting in this coupled with the need for employees to use internal procedures before making application to an employment tribunal Summary of Employment Tribunal Claims against LBWF during 2006/07: As at 1 April 2006 there were outstanding against the Council 17 claims. Of these 15 have been concluded and 2 are continuing. The outcomes of the 15 were: 7 were dismissed by the Tribunal or withdrawn by the Claimant, with no award or payment of any kind by the Council, and in one case the Council was awarded costs (which were not recovered); 8 were settled with most of these individuals receiving approximately 2,000. During , there were 24 new cases (see Appendix B). Of those, 11 were completed during the year. The outcomes being: 8 dismissed or withdrawn, with no award or payment of any kind by the Council - 3

4 3 were settled with the average settlement value being 2, No case started and completed in that year was lost. 5. CONSULTATION 5.1. Not applicable 6. ALTERNATIVE CONSIDERATIONS 6.1 Not applicable 7. IMPLICATIONS Financial The total costs of settlements for this year was 170,000. There is no budget for ET settlements. Each case is dealt with on an individual basis given the merits of that case. When settlements are made, the relevant directorate has to fund the agreement from within existing budgets Legal Individuals have a legal right to make applications to Employment Tribunals regarding matters arising from the employment with the Council Human Resources As outlined the report Health Impact Assessment None specific Equality Impact Assessment The Council's personnel procedures are aimed at treating all staff fairly and as they are reviewed each has an equalities impact assessment undertaken. Et claims are made by staff, or ex staff, who still feel aggrieved against the Council. The areas of Race, Sex and disability discrimination claims have reduced in the last year. A full Equalities Impact Assessment will be undertaken on the strategy following its agreement. Overall it is considered the strategy supports the Council s objectives for assuring equality in HR practices. - 4

5 8 CONCLUSION 8.1. Staff have a right to make application to employment tribunals against decisions or actions taken against them in certain circumstances. Over the last four years there has been a downward trend in the number of cases going to the final stages of an employment tribunal due in part to the active management of such cases Background Report: Employment Tribunal Decisions, Governance Committee, 9 th March