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Latest news; zero hours contracts and tribunal fees

What are ’Zero Hours Contracts’?

These are contracts for where the employee is only paid for the work done at an agreed hourly rate.

Initially introduced to assist employers respond to short-term peaks in demand for staff, zero-hours contracts have been growing in controversy as they have increasingly turned into a more permanent arrangement.

Official figures now show that the number of zero-hour contract workers has trebled since 2005, to more than 200,000. The number of UK employers with more than 100 staff using zero-hours contracts, increased from 11% to 23% between 2004 and 2011.

Last month Business Secretary, Vince Cable undertook to review the practice of short-term contracts, with a special focus on how they operate when it comes to providing staff with state benefits.

Arcadia (parent company of; Next, Top Shop, BHS, Burton and Miss Selfridge) ceased using Zero-hours contracts in 2005.

Union wins appeal to challenge intoduction of Employment Tribunal fees.

Unison has won an appeal to bring a Judicial Review into Employment Tribunal fees after the new payments were introduced yesterday.

Under the new rules, employees can no longer bring an Employment Tribunal claim against their employer free of charge. Employees with wage claims or redundancy disputes for example, will now have to pay £160.00 issue fee when the claim is presented and a further £230.00 hearing fee when a hearing date is set.

More complex claims, including unfair dismissal or equal pay claims, will face a charge of £250.00 plus a £950.00 hearing fee.

Last week the union had hoped to prevent the introduction of fees with a High Court challenge. However, this was rejected and the new rules went ahead as the Government had planned.

Now Unison has been successful in gaining permission from the Royal Courts for a Judicial Review hearing in October. The union hope that a further ruling could revoke the changes, with the possibility of refunding claimants’ who will have paid Employment Tribunal fees.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Andrew Dane .