| Employment Relations Bill - continued | House of Commons |
| SCHEDULE 3, LEAVE FOR FAMILY AND DOMESTIC REASONS - continued | |
| PART II TIME OFF FOR DOMESTIC INCIDENTS | |
| PROVISIONS TO BE INSERTED AFTER SECTION 57 OF THE EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS ACT 1996 | |
Domestic incidents |
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| Right to time off for domestic incidents. | 57A. - (1) An employee is entitled to be permitted by his employer to
take a reasonable amount of time off during the employee's working hours, where it is
reasonable for him to do so, in order to deal with a domestic incident. |
| (2) In subsection (1) "domestic
incident" means an incident which- |
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(a) occurs in the home of the employee, or |
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(b) affects a member of the employee's family or a person who relies on the employee for assistance. |
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| (3) The Secretary of State may make regulations
about the right under subsection (1); and the regulations may, in particular- |
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(a) specify factors to be taken into account in determining whether it is reasonable for an employee to take time off; |
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(b) specify circumstances in which it is to be taken to be, or not to be, reasonable for an employee to take time off; |
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(c) specify factors to be taken into account in determining what amount of time it is reasonable for an employee to take off; |
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(d) impose limits, or enable employers to impose limits, on the amount of time which an employee may take off in relation to a particular incident or set of incidents or during a particular period; |
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(e) make provision about notices to be given, evidence to be produced and other procedures to be followed; |
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(f) make provision specifying the consequences of failure to give notices, to produce evidence or to comply with other procedural requirements; |
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(g) make provision specifying the consequences of failure to act in accordance with a notice given by virtue of paragraph (e); |
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(h) make special provision for cases where an employee has a right which corresponds to a right conferred by subsection (1) and which arises under his contract of employment or otherwise; |
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(i) make provision applying, modifying or excluding an enactment, in such circumstances as may be specified and subject to any conditions specified, in relation to a person entitled to time off under this section. |
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| Complaint to employment tribunal. | 57B. - (1) An employee may present a complaint to an employment tribunal
that his employer has failed to permit him to take time off as required by section 57A. |
| (2) An employment tribunal shall not consider a
complaint under this section unless it is presented- |
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(a) before the end of the period of three months beginning with the date when the failure occurred, or |
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(b) within such further period as the tribunal considers reasonable in a case where it is satisfied that it was not reasonably practicable for the complaint to be presented before the end of that period of three months. |
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| (3) Where an employment tribunal finds a
complaint under subsection (1) well-founded, it- |
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(a) shall make a declaration to that effect, and |
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(b) may make an award of compensation to be paid by the employer to the employee. |
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| (4) The amount of compensation shall be such as
the tribunal considers just and equitable in all the circumstances having regard to- |
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(a) the employer's default in failing to permit time off to be taken by the employee, and |
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(b) any loss sustained by the employee which is attributable to the matters complained of. |
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| Collective and workforce agreements. | 57C. - (1) This section applies to any provision of a collective
agreement or a workforce agreement if the provision- |
(a) is of a kind which could be made by regulations under section 57A(3), and |
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(b) is not of a kind excluded from this section by regulations made by the Secretary of State. |
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| (2) Where this section applies to a provision of
an agreement- |
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(a) the provision shall have effect in relation to any employee who has entered into a contract of employment of which the agreement forms part, and |
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(b) any provision of regulations under section 57A(3) which deals with the same matter as the provision in the agreement shall not have effect in relation to that employee. |
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| (3) In this section- |
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(a) "collective agreement", or |
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(b) "workforce agreement", |
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| means an agreement of a kind specified in regulations made by the
Secretary of State. |
| © Parliamentary copyright 1999 | Prepared 28 January 1999 |