EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS ACAS EARLY CONCILIATION SCHEME

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Letter to Branches




No. 143/2014
Ref AJR/CF
Date: 5th March 2014


TO ALL BRANCHES (ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, WALES)

Dear Colleague

EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS ACAS EARLY CONCILIATION SCHEME

A new Early Conciliation (EC) scheme is due to come into effect on 6th April 2014.

From this date individuals considering making an Employment Tribunal claim will be required to first notify Acas by completing and submitting an early conciliation form.

I have recently attended a briefing at the TUC at which senior officers from Acas detailed the new process.

Their advice is as follows.

Starting the EC process

Before a claimant/member applies to an Employment Tribunal it will be a mandatory requirement to enter into EC via Acas.

The time limits that apply for submitting an ET1 application to the tribunal office still apply but will be frozen once the application for early conciliation has been received by Acas. This is a protected period during which time the clock is stopped with regards to the 3 month period for submitting an ET1 application.

The ET time limit clock restarts once the conciliation process ceases and the appropriate Acas certificate has been issued and received by the claimant.

Members should register with Acas as soon as they become aware of a dispute that may lead to an Employment Tribunal application.

Individuals can complete the early conciliation form by contacting Acas via their on line web site (this is their preferred option) – http://www.acas.org.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

By telephone via their national helpline number 08457 474747

By posting the form to Acas national headquarters at Euston Tower, 286 Euston Road, London, NW1 3JJ.

Acas only require the name and contact details of the claimant and name and contact details of the respondent (the employer). If there is more than one respondent, the details of only one needs to be included at this stage. They do not require details of the claim. These details will be processed by an Acas support officer.

NB there is no space on the EC form for details of any trade union representative who may be assisting the claimant/member. This information will be requested once the process has started.

Once the EC application has been registered with Acas it will be passed onto an Acas officer who will then take charge of the EC process.

The Acas officer will make reasonable efforts to contact both the claimant and respondent by telephone and will have up to 1 calendar month to promote a settlement between both parties starting from the date Acas receives the EC form. This period can be extended by the Acas officer for up to a maximum of 14 days providing both parties agree and the conciliation officer considers there is reasonable prospect of achieving a settlement.

If at any point the Acas officer concludes that settlement of the dispute is not possible then he/she will issue an early conciliation certificate confirming the position .The certificate will be issued to the claimant by e- mail or by post if no email address has been provided. If a settlement is reached the Acas officer will draft the necessary agreement (COT3).

Please note that if either party feels a settlement cannot be reached from the start of the process then Acas will end the process and issue the certificate accordingly.

The EC certificate will have an Acas EC reference number which the claimant must quote if they decide to proceed to an Employment Tribunal. New ET1 forms are being introduced.

The role of Acas is very clear. They will not make a judgement as to the merits of any dispute, they will not comment on who is right or wrong, they may express a view as to the strengths or weakness of the dispute but at all times their involvement will be confidential to the parties concerned.

CWU Representative Involvement

It is difficult to predict how successful or otherwise the early conciliation process will be, it will all depend on the parties willingness to reach a settlement.

The conciliation process is the responsibility of the Acas officer who will at all times enter into dialogue with the respondent. It will not be the role of the union representative to enter into dialogue with the respondent.

Acas see three possible options for the claimant.

1 The claimant/member deals directly with the Acas officer

2 The claimant/member uses the Union representative as a sounding board for advice but continues to deal with the Acas officer direct.

3 The claimant/member requests the Union representative to act on their behalf directly with the Acas officer.

The Acas officer will ask the claimant/member if he/she wishes to use their trade union representative at the time they make initial contact with our member, at which point our member should provide the Acas officer with the appropriate contact details.

CWU Involvement

I have received a number of enquires from Regions and Branches regarding training in order to deal with the early conciliation process. It has now become clear after attending the TUC briefing that the main persons involved in this process will be the Acas Officer who will deal directly with the respondent/employer, not to discuss the merits of the case, but to explore the possibilities of a settlement .We expect that there will be little desire for the employer to enter into meaningful dialogue and if so Acas will issue the EC certificate and our member can proceed with the Employment Tribunal application, if desired, at which point we will deal with our members ET application as normal.

If the employee indicates to the Acas officer they are prepared to enter into meaningful dialogue then I feel at this stage if our members require CWU involvement then this should be provided by the Legal Services Department using our existing ET Panellists who already have experience in dealing with Acas.

Members should therefore, in the first instance, provide Acas with CWU Legal Department contact details only, and not their local union rep, Branch or Region officials.

I view this as an interim solution until we have had time to assess the effectiveness of the EC scheme. I think it is vital we remove any confusion in the initial stages so that our members have a clear understanding of who within the CWU is dealing with this new process.

However if there are branches who feel comfortable dealing with their members’ issues with Acas, please provide Legal Services with the necessary contact details and we will include these with the list of ET panellists and we will direct Acas to the appropriate official once Acas has made initial contact with CWU Headquarters.

We will review the need for training in light of our working experience and report back to branches in the normal way.

Steps our members must take

1 Contact Acas as soon as possible irrespective of whether the member feels a settlement can be reached.

2 Provide Acas with their contact details along with the contact details of the respondent/employer.

3 Details of the claim not needed at this stage

4 If member requires CWU assistance, provide Acas with contact details of Legal Service Department

5 If settlement can’t be reached then Acas will issue EC certificate

6 Members can now submit an Employment Tribunal application (ET1) if still pursuing a dispute.

We are expecting problems with the time limits for submitting an ET1 application now that the clock will stop and restart during the EC period and with this in mind Tribunal Judges are being given additional guidance if respondents seek to have ET claims stuck out due to limitation issues. (i.e. claims submitted out of time)

Therefore as part of the EC process claimants/members will be allowed a minimum of 1 month to submit their ET1 applications irrespective of when they entered the EC process.

Example 1

Unfair dismissal dispute

Member has 3 months to submit ET1 but does not contact Acas until 1 month has passed. Clock stops and early conciliation process begins.

No settlement reached. EC certificate issued, clock restarts, member then has 2 months less one day to submit ET1 application

Example 2

Same scenario as above but this time member delays contacting Acas until 2 months and 2 weeks after dispute.

Clock stops and early conciliation process begins

No settlement reached, EC certificate issued, clock restarts

Under current rules member would have 2 weeks less one day to submit ET1 application.
Under new EC rules claimants/member would be allowed 1 calendar month to submit their ET1.

NB There are new rules governing multiple claims and exemptions from EC which we will publish in due course but I wanted to get the main issues out to branches for your information.

Further details will be published as soon as possible.

If you have any queries regarding the above, please contact Tony Rupa, Head of Legal Services, Communication Workers Union, 150 The Broadway, Wimbledon, London, SW19 1RX. Telephone 0208 971 7444 or via email trupa@cwu.org

Yours sincerely





Tony Rupa
HEAD OF LEGAL SERVICES

[BoltonPostie]

More Tory meddling and looking after `big business` instead of the working man.