Employee Consultation Rights Bill

House of Commons

Session 2000-2001
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Arrangement of Clauses (Contents)

Employee Consultation Rights Bill

A
B I L L
TO
Require employers with more than fifty employees to consult workforce representatives on large business issues which directly affect employees; to establish a forum in which to consult about those issues; and for connected purposes.
BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-

Purpose and principles.     1. - (1) The purpose of this Act is to establish a statutory framework for employers with more than fifty workers to inform and consult workers and their representatives.

    (2) In establishing and implementing arrangements under this Act, employers and workforce representatives shall co-operate with each other, taking into account their reciprocal rights and obligations, and the interests of the undertaking and its workers.

Interpretation.     2. In this Act-

"employer" and "worker" have the meaning given by section 296 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992;

"large business issues" means the matters referred to in subsections (4) and (5) of section 3;

"undertaking" means a public or private undertaking carrying out an economic activity, whether or not for profit, which is located in the United Kingdom and has more than 50 workers;

"workforce representatives" means the representatives of workers provided for by any enactment.

Duty to inform and consult.     3. - (1) It shall be the duty of an employer to inform or consult his workers and their representatives on large business issues in accordance with the requirements of this section.

    (2) The duty to inform applies to the matters referred to in subsections (4) and (5).

    (3) The duty to consult applies to the matters referred to in subsection (5).

    (4) The matters on which there is a duty to inform are the recent, as well as the reasonably foreseeable, development of the undertaking's activities, and the undertaking's economic and financial situation.

    (5) The matters on which there is a duty to inform and consult are-

(a) the situation, structure, and reasonably foreseeable developments relating to employment within the undertaking, including, when an employer considers that it is likely that any workers will be made redundant, any measures, such as training and skill development, which will be implemented to minimise the adverse effects on such workers; and

(b) proposed decisions of the employer which are likely to cause significant changes to the organisation of work or the contractual arrangements of employment within the undertaking.

    (6) Informing and consulting shall take place within a forum established by an employer and workforce representatives in respect of each undertaking.

    (7) An employer shall be held to have informed workforce representatives if he has provided them with information on all relevant facts on a matter on which he has a duty to inform, in such a manner and at such a time as to enable workforce representatives to consider that information and where appropriate, to consult workers and others on the information.

    (8) An employer shall be held to have consulted workforce representatives if he has provided them with information on all relevant facts on a matter on which he has a duty to consult, in such a manner and at such a time as to enable those representatives to form a view, and then-

(a) arranges to meet the workforce representatives-

(i) to be informed of their view, and, then

(ii) to give his response to their view, together with the reasons for that response; and

(b) in relation to a proposed decision under subsection (5)(b), seeks to obtain the agreement of the workforce representatives before implementing the decision.

Confidential information.     4. - (1) No information which is provided by an employer in confidence to workforce representatives under this Act may be disclosed by them except to persons assisting them to perform their functions under this Act, and neither workforce representatives nor persons so assisting them may disclose such information to any other person.

    (2) Any breach of the obligation imposed under subsection (1) is actionable at law.

    (3) Subsection (2) shall not affect any other liabilities or rights which any person may have.

    (4) A workforce representative may appeal to the Central Arbitration Committee against an employer's designation of information as confidential, and, if the Committee considers that disclosure of the information would not, or would not be likely to, prejudice or cause serious harm to the undertaking, it may decide that the information in question should not be regarded as having been given in confidence for the purposes of this section.

© Parliamentary copyright 2001
Prepared 3 April 2001

Employee Consultation Rights Bill

	A B I L L TO Require employers with more than fifty employees to consult workforce representatives on large business issues which directly affect employees; to establish a forum in which to consult about those issues; and for connected purposes. BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-
Purpose and principles.	1. - (1) The purpose of this Act is to establish a statutory framework for employers with more than fifty workers to inform and consult workers and their representatives.
	(2) In establishing and implementing arrangements under this Act, employers and workforce representatives shall co-operate with each other, taking into account their reciprocal rights and obligations, and the interests of the undertaking and its workers.
Interpretation.	2. In this Act-
	"employer" and "worker" have the meaning given by section 296 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992;
	"large business issues" means the matters referred to in subsections (4) and (5) of section 3;
	"undertaking" means a public or private undertaking carrying out an economic activity, whether or not for profit, which is located in the United Kingdom and has more than 50 workers;
	"workforce representatives" means the representatives of workers provided for by any enactment.
Duty to inform and consult.	3. - (1) It shall be the duty of an employer to inform or consult his workers and their representatives on large business issues in accordance with the requirements of this section.
	(2) The duty to inform applies to the matters referred to in subsections (4) and (5).
	(3) The duty to consult applies to the matters referred to in subsection (5).
	(4) The matters on which there is a duty to inform are the recent, as well as the reasonably foreseeable, development of the undertaking's activities, and the undertaking's economic and financial situation.
	(5) The matters on which there is a duty to inform and consult are-
	(a) the situation, structure, and reasonably foreseeable developments relating to employment within the undertaking, including, when an employer considers that it is likely that any workers will be made redundant, any measures, such as training and skill development, which will be implemented to minimise the adverse effects on such workers; and
	(b) proposed decisions of the employer which are likely to cause significant changes to the organisation of work or the contractual arrangements of employment within the undertaking.
	(6) Informing and consulting shall take place within a forum established by an employer and workforce representatives in respect of each undertaking.
	(7) An employer shall be held to have informed workforce representatives if he has provided them with information on all relevant facts on a matter on which he has a duty to inform, in such a manner and at such a time as to enable workforce representatives to consider that information and where appropriate, to consult workers and others on the information.
	(8) An employer shall be held to have consulted workforce representatives if he has provided them with information on all relevant facts on a matter on which he has a duty to consult, in such a manner and at such a time as to enable those representatives to form a view, and then-
	(a) arranges to meet the workforce representatives-
	(i) to be informed of their view, and, then
	(ii) to give his response to their view, together with the reasons for that response; and
	(b) in relation to a proposed decision under subsection (5)(b), seeks to obtain the agreement of the workforce representatives before implementing the decision.
Confidential information.	4. - (1) No information which is provided by an employer in confidence to workforce representatives under this Act may be disclosed by them except to persons assisting them to perform their functions under this Act, and neither workforce representatives nor persons so assisting them may disclose such information to any other person.
	(2) Any breach of the obligation imposed under subsection (1) is actionable at law.
	(3) Subsection (2) shall not affect any other liabilities or rights which any person may have.
	(4) A workforce representative may appeal to the Central Arbitration Committee against an employer's designation of information as confidential, and, if the Committee considers that disclosure of the information would not, or would not be likely to, prejudice or cause serious harm to the undertaking, it may decide that the information in question should not be regarded as having been given in confidence for the purposes of this section.