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Workforce representatives' rights. |
5. No workforce representative may be subjected to any detriment by any act, or any deliberate failure to act, by an employer done on the ground that that representative has acted, or sought to act, in accordance with his functions under this Act. |
Arbitration and compliance procedures. |
6. - (1) If an employer and workforce representatives are unable to agree on the implementation of this Act's provisions in relation to consulting, they shall adopt the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service's Code of Practice. |
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(2) If an undertaking does not establish arrangements to implement the provisions of this Act, workforce representatives may apply to the Central Arbitration Committee which may, if it is satisfied that the employer has failed to comply with its duties under this Act, order him to take such steps to comply as the Committee may specify within such a period of time as the Committee may specify. |
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(3) In the event of a breach of an employer's duty to inform or consult under this Act, a workforce representative may present a complaint to an employment tribunal, and if the tribunal finds that a breach has occurred it may make a protective award. |
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(4) A protective award is an award in respect of each worker who has been adversely affected by the breach of an employer's duty, and shall take the form of an order compelling the employer to pay each such worker the equivalent of four weeks' gross pay. |
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(5) For the purposes of this section, a "breach of an employer's duty" is defined as- |
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(a) a failure to inform or consult workforce representatives prior to the public announcement of a decision relating to the matters specified in section 3(5)(b); or |
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(b) the withholding of information from, or the provision of false information to, workforce representatives in such a way that those representatives are unable to exercise their rights or carry out their functions under this Act. |
Short title and extent. |
7. - (1) This Act may be cited as the Employee Consultation Rights Act 2001. |
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(2) This Act extends to the whole of the United Kingdom. |