Suzanne Palmer discusses the clash between breach of contract claims and statutory grievance procedures
There has been much discussion about the various problems, amounting to a technical minefield for the unwary, posed by the practical application of the statutory dispute resolution mechanism instigated by the Employment Act 2002 (EA 2002) and the Employment Act 2002 (Dispute Resolution) Regulations 2004 (SI 2004/752) (the regulations). This article examines a problem apparently unique to breach of contract claims brought under the Employment Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction (England and Wales) Order 1994 (SI 1994/1623) (the order) and the combined effect of EA 2002 and the regulations on such claims.
BREACH OF CONTRACT CLAIMS
EA 2002, ss 31 and 32 are both predicated on the premise that one of the statutory procedures applies. The next point of reference here is the regulations, which state (in reg 2) that “applicable statutory procedure” means “the statutory procedure that applies by virtue of these Regulations”. Regulation 3 sets out the circumstances in which the statutory disciplinary procedure (SDP) applies—where the employer contemplates dismissal
