The Employment Act 2002, a major step by the government to establish workplaces which are fair, un-biased and just, made it to the UK statute book in July 2002, which received Royal Assent on 8th July 2002. Many stipulations of this act came into effect in April of 2003.

The act covers a wide range of issues like the resolution of disputes at workplaces, helping parents maintain equilibrium between their work and family, equal treatment of fixed-term employees, improving the employment tribunal process, amongst many others. Some of the important features of this act are summarised below:

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Maternity and Paternity:
This is one of the main features of The Employment Act 2002. This is aimed at helping parents to devote time to their family, especially if they have young children. This part of the act provided a number of enhancements to the then existing parental leave rights of employees like: the increase in the maternity leave duration to six month’s paid and six month’s unpaid leave; increase in maternity allowance and Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) to £100 per week or 90% of what the employee earns in a week (whichever is less). The act provides the same privileges to adoptive parents too.

Another important attribute of the act is that it helps the parents with children under the age of six or of disabled children under eighteen and facilitates them with privileges such as the right to ask for flexible working hours and even working from home. The act, besides taking care of the employee, takes into the consideration the employer’s side. The employer can reject the request under specific conditions such as the employer’s inability to hire some additional staff or the inability to re-organize the work amongst other employees, etc.

Resolution of disputes at workplaces:
The Employment Act 2002 aims for various trivial disputes at the individual employee level to be settled, as far as possible, internally, without the involvement of the employment tribunal. The act lays out a standard minimum basic procedure for the discharge of the employee or for any action that is to be taken against him. This includes:

The employer must first provide a written draft of the reason for action against the employee.
A meeting is conducted between the employee and the employer where the issue in hand is discussed.
The employee has the right to bring someone as a witness or just to accompany him at the meeting.
The employer has to inform the employee about the decision taken.
The employee can appeal against the decision if he is dissatisfied.

If the employer fails to follow the above procedures then the dismissal of the employee will be regarded as an unfair one. But if the employer can prove that following the procedure wouldn’t have made any changes to the final decision, the dismissal or action taken would not be automatically regarded as an unfair one. For the employee, to submit his grievances or complaints, the act lays out a similar three stage process.

The act makes it compulsory for the employers to provide the employees with a written declaration of their terms and conditions about their dismissal procedure and everything else. This applies to employers of all sizes.

Improvement in the employment tribunal process:
The Employment Act 2002 has included a lot of changes to the existing employment tribunal process. It allows the secretary to direct one party to make monitory payments to the other party in lieu of the time they have taken in preparation of the case. Also if a party conducts a case unreasonably, at any time, then the secretary can charge against them.

Equal treatment of fixed-term employees:
The act lays out regulations to prevent any kind of discrimination against fixed-term employees. The act provides that fixed-terms should be restricted to four years and fixed-term employees should be treated equally with the permanent employees unless and until justified otherwise.