7th July 2005, 11:26 PM
Quote:quote:One thing that worries me is this talk about one or two week contracts. Do units still do that? And if so, how do they survive? Or is it that they just ignore the employment laws and hope that no one will take them to court?
That's exactly what they do, but so far no-one has had the guts to take them to a tribunal. They haven't yet made the mistake of hiring me though. When they do... watch out.
Regarding the Statutory Dismissal Procedure, I'll have to do some research but most legal firms who do employment law have a section on the new law advising all employers to take the new law very seriously.
As I understand it it is designed to reduce the number of cases taken to tribunal, by forcing an employer to go through a formal process of notification followed by meetings with any employee who is being dismissed. This includes employees on short term contracts who then don't have the contract renewed. If the employer fails to follow all the steps laid out he is automatically in breach and the dismissal will be judged as wrongful by a tribunal. If the case went to tribunal on other grounds the breach will increase the payout to the employee by 50% I believe.
There is some doubt about whether this applies to new employees or only those with a years service, but many of the legal websites are advising employers to abide by it in all cases.
I'd be very surprised if many archaeologists have gone through this process at the end of a contract. I reckon it just needs a couple of precedents to go through the courts for units to start panicking and re-thinking their employment policy. Anyone out there been wrongfully dismissed and not gone through the Statutory Notification Procedure? It could be a very good way of improving the length of contracts if not the pay.