Changes to ACAS statutory code on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures
On 16 January 2015 Vince Cable Secretary of State for Business announced "I am pleased to be laying a new Acas Code of Practice on Discipline and Grievance which includes a minor amendment to reflect the Employment Appeals Tribunal ( EAT ) decision on the right of accompaniment in the case of Toal v GB Oils." official press release here Changes have been made to take into account of the Employment Appeal Tribunal ( EAT) decision in Toal v GB Oils Ltd that employers are not entitled to reject a worker’s choice of companion (even if they have concerns about the choice of representative), provided that companion is a fellow worker, a trade union representative or an official employed by a trade union (i.e. is in one of the categories in section 10 of the Employment Relations Act 1999) and the request itself is made in a reasonable manner. This means that all businesses and organisations need to review their own disciplinary and grievance procedures to ensure