UK businesses have been advised that not taking care to follow employment law could leave them forced to pay out as much as £70,000 at an employment tribunal.
Speaking at the Elite Travel Group conference in Bournemouth, Broomhall and Co senior partner Steve Broomhall said this is the amount that employers can expect to pay out if they lose when taken to an employment tribunal by a former employee.
According to Travel Weekly, Mr Broomhall highlighted the importance of managers and HR staff ensuring that they take steps to avoid potential court action being taken, particularly as settlement costs are on the rise.
"When we’re doing business for clients, one of the biggest areas for us is employment issues as it is these that can catch you out. It is not difficult to get your procedures right; it is mundane, it is boring, but it is easy," he explained.
Mr Broomhall advised that the workforce be given contracts which detail all of the terms and conditions of their employment clearly and that redundancies should also be made fairly.
A landmark employment tribunal recently ruled in favour of a worker who claimed he was made redundant as a result of his green beliefs.
His actual presentation may have got ‘lost in translation, but Steve Broomhall (in common with many lawyers) seems to be deliberately scaring employers about the costs of losing Employment Tribunal claims. I have been an ET Member for 10 years and my own experience is that not one successful claim has come anywhere near the maximum. Most awards are relatively low, even in discrimination cases where there is no compensation cap (a few well-publicised city sex discrimination cases being the exception).
That’s not to decry the costs to employers of getting claims against them. Certainly for SMEs, the real cost is in the cost (in money, time and managemnt focus) of defending a claim, win or lose. Which is why so many settle out of court! Nor is it to disagree with the main premise taht employers should take proper and due account of employment law – they should because it make good business sense. But this does not excuse lawyers (and HR profressionals) selling their services on the basis of misleading scare tactics.
John
I’m not sure it’s fair to suggest that “HR professionals sell their services on the basis of misleading scare tactics”. HR professionals work towards helping business understand the risks associated with not following employment law and then support them with the time consuming and costly aftermath when they don’t.