Employment (Awards) (Amendment) (Jersey) Order 201-

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A decision made 10 June 2011:

Decision Reference: MD-S-2011-0045
Decision Summary Title :	DS - Employment (Awards) (Amendment) (Jersey) Order 201-		Date of Decision Summary:	10 June 2011
Decision Summary Author:	Policy Principal		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title :	WR - Employment (Awards) (Amendment) (Jersey) Order 201-		Date of Written Report:	10 June 2011
Written Report Author:	Policy Principal		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Employment (Awards) (Amendment) (Jersey) Order 201-
Decision(s): The Minister made the Employment (Awards) (Amendment) (Jersey) Order 201-
Reason(s) for Decision: From 1 January 2011, employees have had the right to a statutory redundancy payment which may be enforced via the Employment Tribunal. However, with the maximum Tribunal award being capped at £10,000, the Tribunal could often find that it does not have the power to award an employee’s full statutory entitlements. To enable the Tribunal to fulfil employees’ statutory rights and minimise the risk of claimants bringing multiple proceedings to achieve this, the Tribunals’ award making powers will be extended as follows; 1. To retain the existing scale providing compensation for unfair dismissal, up to the maximum of 26 weeks pay, with the power to reduce the award in certain circumstances, and 2. To retain the £10,000 maximum only in respect of the total of any contractual amounts owed, and 3. The power to award the minimum statutory amounts as set out in the Employment Law, not subject to the £10,000 cap, including redundancy pay and notice pay.
Resource Implications: There are no financial or manpower implications. The amended Order would remove the risk of claimants lodging multiple Tribunal claims to enforce their statutory rights (avoiding increased administration and hearing costs).
Action required: Policy Principal to notify the Greffier of the States and the Law Draftsman that the Order has been made so that it may be notified to the States, and forward the signed and sealed Order immediately to the States Greffe for publication and archiving.
Signature:		Position: Minister
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Employment (Awards) (Amendment) (Jersey) Order 201-

Article 86(6) of the Employment (Jersey) Law 2003 (‘the Employment Law’) enables the Social Security Minister to prescribe by Order a maximum sum that the Employment Tribunal (‘the Tribunal’) may order to be paid to an individual in any proceedings.

Under the Employment (Awards) (Jersey) Order 2009, the Tribunal may award compensation for unfair dismissal up to a maximum of 26 weeks pay, plus up to £10,000 in respect of all other amounts that are owed to an individual, including statutory and contractual amounts owed.

The purpose of amending the Order is primarily to reflect the introduction of the right to a statutory redundancy payment, enacted on 1 January 2011. With the award capped at £10,000, the Tribunal could often find that it may not order payment of the full statutory amounts owed to an employee.

An employee with 8 years’ service earning the average wage of £630 per week, for example, would have a total claim exceeding the maximum award if owed 8 weeks statutory notice pay and 8 weeks statutory redundancy pay. This brings a risk of creating further administration and Tribunal hearings if employees lodge separate Tribunal proceedings for each claim so that up to £10,000 may be awarded in respect of each right.

The statutory rights set out in the Employment Law are regarded as a minimum entitlement. It is unsatisfactory and irrational if the relevant enforcement body does not have the power to at least fulfil the statutory minimums in a single Tribunal hearing.

The Tribunals’ award making powers will be extended as follows;

1. To retain the existing scale providing compensation for unfair dismissal, up to the maximum of 26 weeks pay, with the power to reduce the award in certain circumstances, and

2. To retain the £10,000 maximum only in respect of the total of any contractual amounts owed, such as a bonus, pension contributions, or any contractual rights that exceed the statutory minimums, e.g. an enhanced redundancy package, and

3. The power to award the minimum statutory amounts as set out in the Employment Law, not subject to the £10,000 cap. These include statutory redundancy pay (one week’s pay per year of service capped at £630 per week), statutory notice pay (up to the maximum of 12 weeks’ pay, uncapped), statutory holiday pay of 10 days (pro-rated), public and bank holidays and minimum wage pay owed.