The removal of statutory dismissal, disciplinary and grievance procedures next month is being heralded as good news for employers and employees as it will make the process 'more reasonable and less rigid', according to industry experts.
Codes published by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) set out guidelines that can be used to decide action on issues such as misconduct and poor performance as well as employee complaints.
John Pinder, HR consultant at HR Insight, told HR magazine: "We are reverting to the way things were before disciplinary and grievance procedures came into effect in October 2004 when everything ticked along nicely," he says.
"Employees will no longer be able to make claims against their employer for not following proper procedure but reasonable guidelines must now be followed, and tribunals will be able to use reason to decide how far employers adhered to them," he adds.
Fiona Robson, lecturer in HR management at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, says: "Under the current disciplinary and grievance procedures employees are almost encouraged to take even minor claims to court. The process is extensive and can cause low morale and bad feeling in workplaces. There is a need to concentrate more on mediation."
In November last year, hrmagazine.co.uk reported on fears that the removal of statutory disciplinary and grievance procedure could make it easier for employees to be made redundant without clear justification. But Pinder does not think this will be an issue because there is already redundancy legislation in place regarding consultation periods for companies with more than 20 employees as well as relevant mechanisms in the Acas guidelines.
"There will always be an element of subjectivity considering what is 'reasonable' in disciplinary and grievance procedures," says Robson. "But HR staff need to ensure line managers clearly understand the system and familiarise themselves with the code of conduct to make conciliation processes easier."
