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Good news for employers

Forthcoming changes to employment legislation have been welcomed by one of the region’s employment lawyers, as she believes it will lead to lower costs for employers facing unfair dismissal cases.

Theresa Carling, Employment Law Solicitor with Tilly Bailey & Irvine Solicitors, has welcomed part of the new legislation which is due to come into force in the Summer of 2013. The new legislation will cap the amount of unfair dismissal compensation due to successful claimants to a maximum of one year’s salary. She said: “This change will give employers some certainty. Currently, compensation in these cases can be incredibly difficult to assess. The limit of 12 months’ salary gives a clear starting point for negotiations. It will be much easier to assess the likely award and will enable the parties involved to enter into sensible negotiations away from tribunal. The result will be more cases settled between the parties which is great news for our regions’ businesses.”

The new legislation will limit compensation for unfair dismissal to 12 months’ salary for successful unfair dismissal cases in the UK, subject to the current cap of £72,300*.

Theresa added: “To date, when heading to a tribunal for unfair dismissal, it has been very difficult to estimate what the compensation award in unfair dismissal cases might be. The claimant is expected to mitigate his or her loss of earnings by seeking alternative work, and, where this has been done, there can still be a future loss of earnings awarded. The difficulty for the former employer is that they only have a sketchy idea of what the employment judge might order in respect of this. This can hinder cases where claimants have inflated expectations about the likely levels of compensation which could be awarded. The new legislation gives a clear picture of what the highest possible award will be, allowing a business to complete an accurate cost/ benefit analysis and assess which course of action would be the most appropriate, defending employment tribunal proceedings or negotiating a settlement.”

Tilly Bailey & Irvine Solicitors is the Tees Valley’s largest full service law firm with offices in Wynyard Park, Stockton on Tees, Hartlepool and Barnard Castle. It has a multi-disciplinary business law team, based at Wynyard Park, offering expertise in fields including commercial property, mergers acquisitions and disposals, intellectual property, employment and dispute resolution. For further advice, contact Tilly Bailey & Irvine Solicitors on 01740 646000.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emma Hignett, i2i Business Solutions .