The Forum of Private Business (FPB) has stated that small businesses require more protection from Government against employees who manipulate current employment law in order to make "vexatious claims" against them.
To justify its position, the FPB cited its own research, which was drawn from employment panels, employment tribunals and the Civil Mediation Council.
According to their findings, 92% of FPB members believed that judges should be given greater powers to "strike out" weak cases.
Eighty-six per cent gave their support to the proposition that the deposit and costs limit for vexatious claims should be doubled, while 73% felt that a more transparent system – in which rejected settlements and the value of compensation being sought were published – would help to minimise unwarranted claims.
Moreover, 60% of members supported a proposal to increase the amount of time an employee had to be in their position before being able to make a claim from one year to two. Half of the respondents said that expense payments to witnesses should be abolished.
Phil Orford, chief executive of the FPB, explained: "There is often a misconception that businesses tend to ride roughshod over the rights of employees but this is far from true for the majority of small businesses that rely on recruiting and retaining key staff in order to grow.
"Clearly, we need companies that do engage in this sort of behaviour to be dealt with, but there needs to be a better balance so that employment law protects smaller employers as well as workers."
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