Thorntons Urge Employers to Communicate with Staff to Avoid Fines Under New Laws

Leading law firm Thorntons is urging employers to think about better ways of communicating with staff as changes in regulations come in to force which could result in fines of up to £75,000.

The Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004 will from Sunday (6 April) apply to employers with 50 or more employees.

The regulations originally came into force on 6 April 2005 but only applied to employers with more than 150 employees. But now businesses with more than 50 staff could risk fines of up to £75,000 if they ignore requests to set up information and consultation committees within the workplace.

In many ways, the ICE Agreement, negotiated by employees or employee representatives is similar to a collective workforce agreement negotiated by recognised Trade Union officials - if there is a valid request and no agreement is reached, certain default provisions for an ICE agreement apply.

The default provisions of the ICE agreement mean that employers must inform the workforce of developments in the business’s activities and economic situation, structure and development of employment and changes arising from collective redundancies.

Noele McClelland, partner at Thorntons’ specialist employment law team said:
"The extension of the ICE Regulations to employers with 50 or more employees considerably widens their application which will mean a large proportion of the working population will be affected.

“Increasingly employees want to know what’s happening in their workplace and while to date the regulations have not had a huge impact on employers, it’s important that bosses consider how they communicate with their staff and the type of information they provide to them.

“Whilst there is a duty in terms of the Regulations to set up an information and consultation committee only if an employer has received a request to set up such a committee from 15 or more employees, it may be worthwhile thinking about how to communicate with staff effectively before being forced to do it in terms of the regulations.

“If you already have good communication systems in place, for example, regular staff newsletters, departmental or section meetings, then it may reduce motivation for employees to request creating an ICE Agreement.”

Issued by Beattie Communications on behalf of Thorntons Solicitors.
Contact: Kimberley Hamilton, Tel 01698 787878