Jersey To Increase Compensation In Employment Cases

The States of Jersey have voted to overhaul the current compensatory regime for employment cases and strengthen employees' rights in Jersey.

The key headlines of the Employment and Discrimination (Jersey) Amendment Law, which is expected to be implemented shortly, are as follows:

• Discrimination compensation – this was capped at £10,000 but compensation will increase to a maximum of £30,000 or 52 weeks' pay (whichever is the lesser) for a complaint that is upheld. The original proposal had been that the increase would be to the greater of £50,000 or 52 weeks' pay, but this was rejected by the States of Jersey in favour of a smaller increase.

• Unfair dismissal compensation for those with long service – this was subject to a maximum of 26 weeks' pay, reached after 5 years' service. However, two new bands of compensation are being introduced as follows:
  1. Those with more than 10 years but less than 15 years – 31 weeks' pay;