Bad news
for the government in its attempts to effectively abolish Employment
Protection.
I mentioned
recently that a conservative Party supporter, Adrian Beecroft, had published a report calling for
the introduction of no fault dismissal. In simple terms this would mean employers
could sack their workers for any reason –
The reason
given was that this would stimulate the economy. If businesses can dismiss workers
at will then they are more likely to employ more people thus reducing
unemployment.
Now as a partner
in a business employing over a hundred staff I could not disagree more strongly
with that argument. I cannot imagine ever deciding to employ somebody just because
I could easily get rid of them. That is also the view of the Manufacturing
Organization EFF which has spoken out against the plans.
Speaking in
today’s Guardian the Chief Executive of EFF said –
‘We've found little support from industry for introducing
no-fault dismissal, its benefits look pretty limited and we've seen no evidence
that it would increase recruitment.’
In the real
world, employers are aware of the need for effective employment relations. They
are less interested in the power to sack at will.
This is at
least some good news for workers in an increasingly hostile environment. The
qualifying period before you can go to an Employment Tribunal has gone up from
one to two years. There are plans to introduce fees in Tribunal cases which will
deter many from pursuing cases. In one sense this was no great surprise.
Employment rights have always seen a bit of an ideological ping pong depending
who was in power.
But
abolition of any right of unfair dismissal is clearly a step too far for both
workers and employers.
Hopefully this
poorly thought out plan will now be put to bed for good!
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