Preliminary: For notes on separate regulations which require multinational companie to consult Works Councils on certain transnational issues see Consultation with employees/EC Works Council Directive .
The Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004 , SI 2004/3426 have applied to undertakings with 150+ employees from April 2005 and to those with 100+ employees from April 2007. Since 6th April 2008 they have applied to undertakings with 50+ employees.
Under the regulations employees have the right to request their employer to inform them of, and consult with them about, business matters which affect their employment. If at least ten per cent of the workforce exercise this right, the employer must set up a regular system for information and consultation within the (fairly flexible) framework set out in the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004 , SI 2004/3426.
The Employment Appeals Tribunal has power to impose a maximum penalty of £75,000 on employers who do not comply with the regulations. The CAC (see Institutions of employment law/Central Arbitration Committee ) has monitoring and enforcement powers.
It is automatically unfair dismissal for an employer to dismiss an employee for seeking to exercise rights to which he is entitled under the regulations (Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004 , SI 2004/3426 reg 30).
Until the May 2004 EU enlargement (see European Law/new EU members ) Britain was the only EU Member State which did not already impose a legally binding collective information and consultation process on employers in general circumstances. The legal obligation on employers to inform and consult employees on general matters affecting them applied only to large multi-national employers (see the Council Directive 94/45/EC, the Works Council Directive and notes on Works Councils ). Britain also requires consultation by all employers with employees in specified circumstances, for example where multiple redundancies are proposed and where the TUPE regulations apply - see Redundancy/consultation and/or Transfer of business or undertaking/consultation . A DTI 2002 discussion paper on "High Performance Workplaces" includes a most useful appendix setting out then current UK legal requirements to inform and consult.
The BIS (formerly BERR/DTI) website on the regulations includes official DTI Guidance to the Information and Consultation Employees Regulations 2004, published January 2006. Also on the web there is an ACAS web-site re Information and consultation of employees: ICE" and a useful Government website on "Information and consultation of employees" generally.
See also emplaw.co.uk notes at:-