The Employment Act 2002 received Royal Assent on 8th July 2002

Go to ACTS OF PARLIAMENT etc/Employment Act 2002/text for an index to (and in the professional version of this program full text of the Employment Act 2002.

The Employment Act 2002 is mainly an enabling Act - its main provisions give "the Secretary of State" power to make regulations. With the exception of the part dealing with fixed term contracts (viz Emp'tAct 2002 s.45 and s.46 for Northern Ireland which came into effect on 1st October 2002) none of the substantive parts of the Act came fully into effect before 6th April 2003. The main parts of the Act were all fully in force by 1st October 2004 (see the Employment Act 2002 (Commencement No. 6 and Transitional Provision) Order 2004, SI 2004/1717 and the Employment Act 2002 (Commencement No. 7) Order 2004, SI 2004/2185).<

The main parts of the Act provide, subject to regulations, for:-

• six months' paid, and a further six months' unpaid, maternity leave for working mothers;
  
• six months' paid, and a further six months' unpaid, leave for adoptive parents;
  
• two weeks' paid paternity leave for working fathers;
  
• an increase in SMP from £62pw to £100pw;
  
• reimbursement of maternity, paternity and adoptive payments by employers from the government, with small employers receiving 100% reimbursement plus a bonus payment on top;
  
• a right for parents of (mainly) young children to request flexible working arrangements (see Flexible Working ).
  
• the establishment of union learning representatives (with a right to paid time off work);
  
• a questionnaire procedure in Equal Pay cases;
  
• new rules for fixed term workers (see Fixed term contracts/2002 regulations ).
  
• new rules regarding the written statements of particulars of employment terms to which employees are generally entitled (see Statement of particulars of employment/2004 changes ).

In addition the Act provides for a new requirement that all employers, regardless of size, must operate minimum standard compulsory disciplinary and grievance procedures (see notes at Disciplinary procedures/2004 new regulations and Emp'tAct 2002 Sch 2). It also provides (Emp'tAct 2002 s.34) for changes to the principle established in the Polkey case (ie that it is normally no defence to an unfair dismissal claim for an employer who failed to consult before dismissing an employee to argue that consultation would not have made any difference anyway).

There are full official explanatory notes to the Employment Act 2002 on the DTI web-site and 2002/07/09 - DTI Press Release P/2002/442 has a useful summary. There are also useful notes on the April 2003 "family friendly" changes on a special DTI web-site called "Working Parents" and there is a useful brief overview and summary of the effects of the Act on the Inland Revenue "Business Link" website.

A whole raft of regulations regulations to implement the details of the Act has been issued. The main regulations (some of which have subsequently been amended) include:-

• The Fixed-Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002, SI 2002/2034 (providing increased rights from 1st October 2002 for employees with Fixed term contracts );
  
• The Maternity and Parental Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2002 SI 2002/2789 (in force 24th November 2002 but operating only where the expected week of childbirth (or other triggering event) begins on or after 6th April 2003);
  
• The Paternity and Adoption Leave Regulations 2002 SI 2002/2788 (in force 8th December 2002 but operating only where the expected week of birth or placement for adoption (or other triggering event) begins or is on or after 6th April 2003); and
  
• The Statutory Paternity Pay and Statutory Adoption Pay (General) Regulations 2002 SI 2822 (in force 8th December 2002 but operating only where the expected week of birth or placement for adoption (or other triggering event) begins or is on or after 6th April 2003)
  
• The Employment Act 2002 (Dispute Resolution) Regulations 2004 SI 2004/752 (made on 12th March 2004 and in force from 1st October 2004).