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Amendment Number 4
This Amendment will allow the Tribunal to order:
- • The re-instatement and/or re-engagement of employees thereby giving the Tribunal the power to direct the continued employment of a dismissed employeefollowing a successful claim for unfair dismissal (which includes the power to award additional compensation if the employer does not comply with a direction of reemployment);
- The power to reduce an unfair dismissal award in certain circumstances, including where an employee has contributed to his or her own dismissal; and
- The power to award up to 26 weeks pay in addition to unfair dismissal compensation if an employer fails to comply with an order to re-instate an employee (unless the employer can satisfy the Tribunal that re-instatement/re-engagement is not practically possible).
Re-instatement is re-employment of the employee back into the role he or she was dismissed
from, as if the dismissal had never occurred.
Re-engagement is considered by the Tribunal only if no re-instatement order is made. Reengagement is re-employment of the employee into a different role to the one he or she was dismissed from, on terms and conditions as close as is reasonably practicable to those he or she was dismissed from.
LAW will keep readers up to date on Amendment No. 5, which covers redundancy pay and
reduction in notice periods, as it is currently still pending with Privy Council.
