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The Government has finally published the long-awaited White Paper on employment law reforms. Entitled "Fairness at Work" (Cm.3968), it has received much publicity in recent months largely concerning the Labour Party´s manifesto commitment to introduce a statutory right to trade union recognition. While, perhaps understandably, the political agenda has concentrated on the recognition issue, there are many other important proposals representing the greatest single improvement in employment rights for twenty five years.

NEW RIGHTS FOR INDIVIDUALS
The Government proposes to:

• Reduce the qualifying period for protection against unfair dismissal to one year from two years;
• Abolish the maximum limit on unfair dismissal awards; and
• Introduce legislation to index-link continuing limits on statutory awards and payments.

COLLECTIVE RIGHTS
The Government proposes to:

• Enable employees to have a trade union recognised by their employer where a majority of the relevant workforce vote for it. This will require a majority of those voting and 40% of the total bargaining group to vote in favour. Alternatively, over 50% union membership will also qualify for recognition to be granted;
• Introduce the right to claim unfair dismissal for those dismissed for taking part in a lawfully organised industrial dispute;
• Make it unlawful to discriminate on grounds of trade union membership, non-membership or activities against individuals;
• Prohibit the blacklisting of trade unionists;
• Amend the law on industrial action ballots so as to avoid the need for a union to identify its members;
• Create a legal right for employees to be accompanied by a fellow employee or a trade union representative during grievance or disciplinary procedures;
• To abolish the Commissioner for the Rights of Trade Union Members and the Commission of Protection against Unlawful Industrial Action;
• Make Government funds available to assist in training managers and employee representatives so as to develop partnerships at work.

FAMILY FRIENDLY POLICIES
The Government proposes to:

• Extend maternity leave to eighteen weeks (from fourteen) to align it with maternity pay;
• Provide employees with rights to extended maternity and parental leave after one year´s service (in accordance with the Parental Leave Directive);
• Make specific provision for the continuation of the contract of employment during the whole period of maternity or parental leave;
• Provide specific rights for employees to return to their jobs after parental leave;
• Provide three months parental leave for adoptive parents;
• Provide a right to reasonable time off for parents for family emergencies regardless of length of service; and
• Ensure that employees are protected against dismissal or detriment for exercising their rights to parental leave or time off for emergency family reasons.

The Government further invites views on the following matters:

• Whether the limits on additional and special awards in unfair dismissal cases should be retained or whether Tribunals should be able to award aggravated damages against employers who dismiss for prohibited reasons;
• Whether employees should continue to have the ability to waive their rights to claim unfair dismissal and redundancy payments in fixed-term contracts;
• Whether action should be taken to address the abuse of zero hours contracts and, if so, how this should take place;
• Whether legislation should be introduced to extend the coverage of protective employment legislation for employees to all other workers such as the self-employed;
• Whether the issue of training should accompany the three other categories of pay, hours and holidays on which recognition should be granted;
• How a procedure for de-recognition should work in practice;
• How protection against dismissal for those taking part in lawful industrial action should work in practice;
• How to simplify the procedures in respect of industrial action ballots and notice;
• How to simplify the notice prior to maternity leave;
• Option for introducing further legislation to comply with the Parental Leave Directive; and
• Particular difficulties that might be suffered by small firms in complying with the terms of Parental Leave Directive.

As a package, the proposals go well beyond those identified before the election in pre-manifesto documents. Aside from the headline-grabbing issue of trade union recognition, the White Paper includes many other important proposals. To pick just two, the reduction in the qualifying period for unfair dismissal to one year from two years and the removal of the unfair dismissal maximum payment indicates a clear intention from Government to persuade employers to introduce fair internal procedures based on much valued principles of partnership between workers and employers. Similarly, the possibility of the introduction of awards of aggravated damages for certain types of dismissals should cause employers to give very serious consideration indeed to the need to avoid all discrimination and victimisation at the workplace or face claims for substantial compensation.

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