Employment Commentary - 14/3/2010

University face £10,000 penalty for failing to consult

This week has seen Bournemouth University in the Appeal Tribunals over a case for failure to consult under the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004. The maximum penalty in this case could have been £75,000, but because Bournemouth University a) had a mistaken belief that they could not comply; and b) set up a non compliant consultation body with which it consulted in any event, the Appeal Tribunal felt that the £75,000 maximum could be reduced to £10,000 because the University had not attempted to avoid its obligations, but had tried to comply with them in the mistaken belief that strict compliance was not possible.

In short, this employer escaped a much heavier penalty by at least attempting to do what they could on this. Had they been in flagrant breach, the penalty would have been considerably higher.