Requirement to deal with tips, gratuities and service charges Section 12: Amendments to employment legislation
Section 12 amends the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 ("TULRCA"), the Employment Rights Act 1996 ("the ERA 1996"), the Employment Tribunals Act 1996 ("the ETA") and the Employment Relations Act 1999 ("the ERA 1999").
	Section 12 subsection (1) inserts sections 27K and 27N of the ERA 1996 (as amended by this legislation) into Schedule A2 of TULRCA. This means that the employment tribunal may increase or reduce any award to an employee by no more than 25% in the event of an unreasonable failure by the employer or employee respectively to follow a relevant code of practice. A relevant code of practice is one which relates exclusively or primarily to the procedure for the resolution of disputes.
	Section 12 subsection (2)(a) – (c) amends certain categories of employment referred to in the ERA 1996 to bring them within or render them outside the scope of this legislation. Section 12(2)(d) consequentially amends an existing definition in the ERA.
Section 12 subsection (a) brings House of Lords staff within the scope of this legislation;
Section 12 subsection (b) brings House of Commons staff within the scope of this legislation; and
Section 12 subsection (c) brings mariners within the scope of this legislation to the extent that Part II of the Employment Rights Act 1996 already applies to them, and puts them outside the scope of this legislation in the circumstances that Part II does not apply to them.
	Section 12 subsection (2)(e)(i) inserts into the ERA 1996 a new section 236(2)(aa) referring to regulations made under section 27R concerning the consequential revision of a code of practice, with the effect that a regulation to bring a consequential revision to a code of practice into effect is not subject to the negative resolution procedure. Therefore regulations under section 27R are not subject to any parliamentary procedure.
	Section 12 subsection (2)(e)(ii) inserts sections 27F and 27S into section 236(3) of the ERA 1996, with the effect that regulations to revise the definition of an independent tronc operator under section 27F(9) and to revoke a code of practice under section 27S are subject to the affirmative resolution procedure.
	Section 12 subsection (3)(a) inserts sections 27K and 27N into subsection 4(3)(c) of the ETA 1999. This means that proceedings before an employment tribunal relating to complaints about tips or information under this legislation may be heard by the chairman of the employment tribunal alone, or any Employment Judge alone provided they are a member of the tribunal.
	Section 12 subsection (3)(b) inserts sections 27K and 27N into subsection 18(1)(b) of the ETA 1999 with the effect that a worker must contact Acas before instituting proceedings against their employer under this legislation.
	Section 12(4) inserts sections 27M(1) and 27O(2) into section 34 of the ERA 1999. This has the effect of increasing or decreasing the maximum compensation award capable of being awarded by the employment tribunal under this legislation of £5,000 in line with changes to the retail prices index as compared to the previous year.