A news item took my eye the other day. It said that SMEs were more likely to risk going to an employment tribunal than larger companies.
The news resulted from a survey run jointly by Adecco and the Institute of Directors, so it clearly carried weight. But is it so surprising?
Another Adecco/IoD report earlier this year, the Small Business Recruitment and Retention Survey, had said that 73 per cent of small businessmen believe that employment legislation unfairly favours the employee, so there really ought not be any surprise at all.
After all, if you really think that legislation favours the employee, surely a small businessman might take a punt on testing his beliefs at a tribunal?
But it seems more likely that the small businessman just cannot afford the legal protection enjoyed by the big boys.
Good barristers cost a lot of money, and not just for their knowledge. In my experience, the better they are the longer they take, and that ups the bills on both sides. And you don’t get no win, no fee with this sort of thing.
I suspect that employees and their unions and their legal advisors know that. The news item added that figures from Acas shows that 47 per cent of claimants were employed by companies with fewer than 50 people, which is amazing when you think of the number of people who work for big corporations...
And I wondered what I would do if an employee took me to a tribunal for unfair dismissal. That is, if I employed people, and regular readers will know that I outsource everything I can.
I haven’t got any kind of insurance to protect me although, of course, if I did have employees there is no doubt that I would have some (especially after reading these reports).
But you have to remember that insurance companies increase their premiums if they keep getting caught. So would I risk a tribunal? I think I would, because I would have done everything by the book, wouldn’t I?
Or could it be that those running SMEs don’t understand all the legislation that is in force these days? I’m not sure I do. For instance, am I right in thinking that nowadays you are obliged to tell an unsuccessful interviewee why they did not get the job? And if so, is, "I’m sorry but you are a Goth" acceptable?
Adecco are offering us small business people (must stop saying "man" – might be against current legislation) an advice centre at adeccohrsolutions.co.uk. But although you get a month's free access, you do have to pay for the service after that.
But just because employees go to tribunals, it does not mean that they always win. I cannot believe I am the only person who was astonished that Faria Alam did not win her case against the Football Association.
After all, it seemed open and shut to me. According to what I read, the FA told the News of the World that they would give them chapter and verse about Ms Alam’s relationship with Sven-Goran Eriksson if the paper was to keep quiet about her affair with FA chief executive Mark Palios.
That was surely a breach of an employee’s rights. But she lost, although I do gather she has several thousand compensations, all of them with the Queen’s head on them.
