Employment Law

Lord Morris of Handsworth Excerpts

Monday 21st May 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord De Mauley]

I am sympathetic to what the noble Baroness says. As I have said, we are keeping an open mind on this issue of no-fault dismissal. It is a fact that the smallest businesses are less likely to have access to human resources and legal advice and are therefore less likely to feel confident in applying procedures. I think that is one of the key issues. We want to examine whether a no-fault dismissal system for microbusinesses would be helpful in dealing with this, particularly in increasing their confidence in employing people.

[Lord Morris of Handsworth]

My Lords, in repeating the Statement, the Minister said that,

“the UK is considered to have the third most flexible labour market in the OECD and this is an important strength”.

Will the Minister tell the House which other OECD countries operate a no-fault dismissal policy? In his Statement, the Minister also indicated that there is clear evidence that employers have dismissed people simply on the basis that they are not liked. If that is the case, is he not therefore proposing in this Statement and in the report a gateway for discrimination against a vast range of people in employment: women, people with disability, and others? The Minister indicated that the report was about the confidence to hire. Does he agree that it is also a blank cheque to fire?

[Lord De Mauley]

My Lords, the noble Lord asked whether any other countries had in effect a micro-exemption. Germany does. He was also concerned about discrimination. Broadening the question, I will say that the Government will not tolerate discrimination in the workplace.