PART 4 continued
(1) Where an employment tribunal finds a complaint under section 80H well-founded it shall make a declaration to that effect and may—
(a) make an order for reconsideration of the application, and
(b) make an award of compensation to be paid by the employer to the employee.
(2) The amount of compensation shall be such amount, not exceeding the permitted maximum, as the tribunal considers just and equitable in all the circumstances.
(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), the permitted maximum is such number of weeks' pay as the Secretary of State may specify by regulations.
(4) Where an employment tribunal makes an order under subsection (1)(a), section 80G, and the regulations under that section, shall apply as if the application had been made on the date of the order.”
(3) After section 47C there is inserted—
(1) An employee has the right not to be subjected to any detriment by any act, or any deliberate failure to act, by his employer done on the ground that the employee—
(a) made (or proposed to make) an application under section 80F,
(b) exercised (or proposed to exercise) a right conferred on him under section 80G,
(c) brought proceedings against the employer under section 80H, or
(d) alleged the existence of any circumstance which would constitute a ground for bringing such proceedings.
(2) This section does not apply where the detriment in question amounts to dismissal within the meaning of Part 10.”
(4) After section 104B there is inserted—
An employee who is dismissed shall be regarded for the purposes of this Part as unfairly dismissed if the reason (or, if more than one, the principal reason) for the dismissal is that the employee—
(a) made (or proposed to make) an application under section 80F,
(b) exercised (or proposed to exercise) a right conferred on him under section 80G,
(c) brought proceedings against the employer under section 80H, or
(d) alleged the existence of any circumstance which would constitute a ground for bringing such proceedings.”
(1) In section 35A of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 (c. 4) (appropriate weekly rate of maternity allowance)—
(a) for subsections (1) to (3) there is substituted—
“(1) For the purposes of section 35(1) above the appropriate weekly rate is (subject to subsection (5A) below) whichever is the lower rate of—
(a) a weekly rate equivalent to 90 per cent of the woman’s average weekly earnings; and
(b) the weekly rate for the time being prescribed under section 166(1)(b) below.”;
(b) in paragraph (c)(i) of subsection (5), for “the lower earnings limit” there is substituted “an amount 90 per cent of which is equal to the weekly rate prescribed under section 166(1)(b) below that is”; and
(c) after that subsection there is inserted—
“(5A) Where subsection (5B) below applies the appropriate weekly rate is the weekly rate for the time being prescribed under section 166(1)(b) below.
(5B) This subsection applies where a woman is treated by virtue of regulations under sub-paragraph (i) of paragraph (c) of subsection (5) above as having received a payment in respect of each week in the specified period equal to the amount mentioned in that sub-paragraph.”
(2) In relation to any time before the coming into force of section 19, the reference to section 166(1)(b) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 (c. 4) in section 35A(5)(c)(i) of that Act (as amended by subsection (1)(b) above) is a reference to section 166(3) of that Act.
After section 2A of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 (c. 5) (claim or full entitlement to certain benefits conditional on work-focused interview), there is inserted—
(1) Regulations may make provision for or in connection with imposing, at a time when—
(a) a person (“the claimant”) who—
(i) is under the age of 60, and
(ii) has a partner who is also under that age,
is entitled to a benefit to which this section applies at a higher rate referable to his partner, and
(b) prescribed circumstances exist,
a requirement for the partner to take part in a work-focused interview as a condition of the benefit continuing to be payable to the claimant at that rate.
(2) The benefits to which this section applies are—
(a) income support;
(b) an income-based jobseeker’s allowance other than a joint-claim jobseeker’s allowance;
(c) incapacity benefit;
(d) severe disablement allowance; and
(e) invalid care allowance.
(3) For the purposes of this section a benefit is payable to a person at a higher rate referable to his partner if the amount that is payable in his case—
(a) is more than it would be if the person concerned was not a member of a couple; or
(b) includes an increase of benefit for his partner as an adult dependant of his.
(4) Regulations under this section may, in particular, make provision—
(a) for securing, where the partner of the claimant would otherwise be required to take part in work-focused interviews relating to two or more benefits—
(i) that the partner is required instead to take part in only one such interview; and
(ii) that the interview is capable of counting for the purposes of all those benefits;
(b) in a case where the claimant has more than one partner, for determining which of those partners is required to take part in the work-focused interview or requiring each of them to take part in such an interview;
(c) for determining the persons by whom work-focused interviews are to be conducted;
(d) conferring power on such persons or the designated authority to determine when and where work-focused interviews are to take place (including power in prescribed circumstances to determine that they are to take place in the homes of those being interviewed);
(e) prescribing the circumstances in which partners attending work-focused interviews are to be regarded as having or not having taken part in them;
(f) for securing that if—
(i) a partner who has been notified of a requirement to take part in a work-focused interview fails to take part in it, and
(ii) it is not shown (by him or by the claimant), within the prescribed period, that he had good cause for that failure,
the amount payable to the claimant in respect of the benefit in relation to which the requirement applied is to be reduced by the specified amount until the specified time;
(g) prescribing—
(i) matters which are or are not to be taken into account in determining whether a partner does or does not have good cause for any failure to comply with the regulations; or
(ii) circumstances in which a partner is or is not to be regarded as having or not having good cause for any such failure.
(5) Regulations under this section may, in relation to a reduction under subsection (4)(f), provide—
(a) for the amount of the reduction to be calculated in the first instance by reference to such amount as may be prescribed;
(b) for the amount as so calculated to be restricted, in prescribed circumstances, to the prescribed extent;
(c) where the claimant is entitled to two or more benefits in relation to each of which a requirement to take part in a work-focused interview applied, for determining the extent to, and the order in, which those benefits are to be reduced in order to give effect to the reduction required in his case.
(6) Regulations under this section may provide that any requirement to take part in a work-focused interview that would otherwise apply to a partner by virtue of the regulations—
(a) is, in any prescribed circumstances, either not to apply or not to apply until the specified time;
(b) is not to apply if the designated authority determines that such an interview would not be of assistance to him or appropriate in the circumstances;
(c) is not to apply until such time as the designated authority determines (if that authority determines that such an interview would not be of assistance to him or appropriate in the circumstances until that time);
and the regulations may make provision for treating a partner to whom any such requirement does not apply, or does not apply until a particular time, as having complied with that requirement to such extent and for such purposes as are specified.
(7) In this section—
“couple” means a married or unmarried couple (within the meaning of Part 7 of the Contributions and Benefits Act);
“designated authority” means such of the following as may be specified, namely—
the Secretary of State,
a person providing services to the Secretary of State,
a local authority, and
a person providing services to, or authorised to exercise any function of, a local authority;
“partner” means a person who is a member of the same couple as the claimant;
“specified” means prescribed by or determined in accordance with regulations; and
“work-focused interview” has the same meaning as in section 2A above.”
Schedule 6 (which contains provision for the use of information for, or relating to, employment and training) has effect.
(1) Any power of the Secretary of State to make orders or regulations under this Act includes power—
(a) to make different provision for different cases or circumstances;
(b) to make such incidental, supplementary, consequential or transitional provision as the Secretary of State thinks fit.
(2) Any power of the Secretary of State to make orders or regulations under this Act is exercisable by statutory instrument.
(3) No order may be made under this Act unless a draft of the order has been laid before and approved by resolution of each House of Parliament.
(4) No regulations may be made under section 30, 31, 32, 33 or 45 unless a draft of the regulations has been laid before and approved by resolution of each House of Parliament.
(5) A statutory instrument containing regulations under any other provision of this Act shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
(6) This section does not apply to orders under section 55(2).
(1) There shall be paid out of money provided by Parliament—
(a) any expenses incurred by a Minister of the Crown or government department in consequence of this Act, and
(b) any increase attributable to this Act in the sums so provided under any other Act.
(2) There shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund any increase attributable to this Act in the sums payable into that Fund under any other Act.
Schedule 7 (which makes minor and consequential amendments) has effect.
The enactments and instruments specified in Schedule 8 are hereby repealed or revoked to the extent specified there.
(1) This Act may be cited as the Employment Act 2002.
(2) This Act, except sections 45, 46, 51 and 52 and this section, shall come into force on such day as the Secretary of State may by order made by statutory instrument appoint, and different days may be so appointed for different purposes.
(3) An order under subsection (2) may contain such transitional provisions and savings as the Secretary of State considers necessary or expedient in connection with the coming into force of any of the provisions of this Act.
(4) The Secretary of State may by regulations make such transitional provisions and savings as he considers necessary or expedient for the purposes of or in connection with—
(a) the coming into force of section 19 or 48, or Schedule 7 so far as relating to any amendment made in consequence of either of those sections; or
(b) the operation of any enactment amended by any of those provisions during any period when the amendment is not wholly in force.
(5) Subject to subsections (6) and (7), this Act extends to England and Wales and Scotland only.
(6) The following provisions also extend to Northern Ireland—
(a) section 5;
(b) sections 13 to 15, and section 16 so far as relating thereto;
(c) paragraphs 1, 4, 9 and 10 of Schedule 6, and section 50 so far as relating thereto;
(d) sections 51 and 52;
(e) paragraphs 1, 50, 52 and 53 of Schedule 7, and section 53 so far as relating thereto;
(f) Schedule 8, so far as relating to the repeal of section 3(3) of the Social Security Act 1998 (c. 14), and section 54 so far as relating thereto;
(g) this section.
(7) The following provisions extend to Northern Ireland only—
(a) sections 21(2) and 46;
(b) paragraphs 7, 8, 12 and 14 of Schedule 6, and section 50 so far as relating thereto;
(c) paragraph 17 of Schedule 7, and section 53 so far as relating thereto;
(d) Schedule 8, so far as relating to—
(i) the repeal in the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 (c. 8), and
(ii) the revocations in the Social Security Administration (Fraud) (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 (S.I. 1997/1182 (N.I. 11)) and the Social Security Contributions (Transfer of Functions, etc.) (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/671),
and section 54 so far as relating thereto.
(8) In sections 5 and 13 to 15 and paragraph 53 of Schedule 7, references to statutory paternity pay or statutory adoption pay include statutory pay under Northern Ireland legislation corresponding to Part 12ZA or Part 12ZB of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 (c. 4).