Nick Clegg in good idea shock!
Posted by: Simon / 15.11.2011
One of the many suggested reforms of UK employment law at the
moment (recently suggested by Nick Clegg) is the introduction of
"protected conversations" - an off-the-record conversation between
employer and employee which may or may not lead to the employee
leaving the company, but the contents of which could not be used
(by either side) in any tribunal or other legal dispute.
The sort of thing that it's intended to cover is a situation where
an employer has a problem with an employee - let's call him Bill -
and says "Bill, as you know we've spoken about your
performance/attendance/attitude over the last few months and it
unfortunately it hasn't improved. We're now at the point where we
need to start disciplinary/capability proceedings which might
ultimately lead to your dismissal. However, we are prepared to
discuss with you, in a protected conversation, a way which would
allow you to leave with some form of settlement, which will avoid
us having to take this action. Have a think about it over the next
24/48 hours and if you wish to discuss it further we will be happy
to."
Bill then has a choice whether or not to go down the formal
process or to negotiate a settlement through a Compromise
Agreement. If he chooses the latter and a settlement can't be
agreed then none of the discussion is permissible as evidence if he
later makes a tribunal claim.
Now some of you reading this might ask how this is different to
the current "without prejudice" discussions that employers often
have employees. In practice, the answer is probably nothing,
although some of legal friends will point out that many
conversations that are described as "without prejudice" in these
situations don't strictly fall into the definition and technically
could be used in legal proceedings.
So, provided the regulations are sensibly drafted, ensuring for
example that both the employer and employee have to agree that a
conversation is protected, the changes might just be the law
catching up with what happens anyway in the real world, but under a
more user friendly title. Next thing you know, someone will suggest
renaming Compromise Agreements as something like "Compensated
No-fault Dismissal"...
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