Employment Act 1982

Trade disputes

15Actions in tort against trade unions and employers' associations

(1)Section 14 of the 1974 Act (immunity for trade unions and employers' associations from certain actions in tort) shall cease to have effect.

(2)Where proceedings in tort are brought against a trade union—

(a)on a ground specified in paragraph (a) or (b) of section 13(1) of the 1974 Act; or

(b)in respect of an agreement or combination by two or more persons to do or to procure the doing of an act which, if it were done without any such agreement or combination, would be actionable in tort on such a ground;

then, for the purpose of determining in those proceedings whether the union is liable in respect of the act in question, that act shall be taken to have been done by the union if, but only if, it was authorised or endorsed by a responsible person.

(3)For the purposes of this section, but subject to subsection (4) below, an act shall not be taken to have been authorised or endorsed by a responsible person unless it was authorised or, as the case may be, endorsed—

(a)by the principal executive committee ;

(b)by any other person who is empowered by the rules to authorise or, as the case may be, endorse acts of the kind in question ;

(c)by the president or general secretary ;

(d)by any other official who is an employed official; or

(e)by any committee of the union to whom an employed official regularly reports.

(4)An act shall not be taken, by virtue of subsection (3)(d) or (e) above, to have been authorised or endorsed by a responsible person if—

(a)that person was, at the time in question, prevented by the rules from authorising or endorsing acts of the kind in question ; or

(b)the act has been repudiated by the principal executive committee or by the president or general secretary.

(5)For the purposes of subsection (4)(b) above, an act shall not be treated as repudiated unless—

(a)it is repudiated as soon as is reasonably practicable after the purported authorisation or endorsement of the act has come to the knowledge of the principal executive committee or, as the case may be, of the president or general secretary ; and

(b)the person who purported to authorise or endorse the act has been notified in writing and without delay that it has been repudiated.

(6)An act shall not be treated as repudiated, notwithstanding subsection (5) above, if at any time after the union concerned purported to repudiate it the principal executive committee or president or general secretary has behaved in a manner which is inconsistent with the purported repudiation.

(7)In this section—

• " general secretary" means the official of the union concerned who holds the office of general secretary or, where there is no such office, who holds the office which is equivalent, or the nearest equivalent, to that of general secretary;

• " official" means an official of the union concerned; and " employed official" means, in relation to that union, an official who is employed by it;

• " president" means the official of the union concerned who holds the office of president or, where there is no such office, who holds the office which is equivalent, or the nearest equivalent, to that of president;

• " principal executive committee " means the principal committee of the union concerned exercising executive functions, by whatever name it is known ;

• " rules " means the written rules of the union and any other written provisions forming part of the contract between a member and the other members (or, in the case of a special register body, between a member and the body).

(8)Where, for the purpose of any proceedings, an act is by virtue of this section taken to have been done by a trade union nothing in this section shall affect the liability of any other person in those or any other proceedings in respect of that act.

16Limit on damages awarded against trade unions in actions in tort

(1)Subject to subsection (2) below, in any proceedings in tort brought against a trade union the amount which may be awarded against the union by way of damages in those proceedings shall not exceed the appropriate limit.

(2)Subsection (1) above does not apply to any proceedings—

(a)for any of the following resulting in personal injury to any person, that is to say negligence, nuisance or breach of duty; or

(b)without prejudice to paragraph (d) above, for breach of duty in connection with the ownership, occupation, possession, control or use of property (whether real or personal or, in Scotland, heritable or moveable).

(3)The appropriate limit is—

(a)£10,000, if the union has less than 5,000 members ;

(b)£50,000, if it has 5,000 or more members but less than 25,000 members;

(c)£125,000, if it has 25,000 or more members but less than 100,000 members ; and

(d)£250,000, if it has 100,000 or more members.

(4)The Secretary of State may by order vary any of the sums for the time being specified in subsection (3) above.

(5)An order under subsection (4) above—

(a)shall be made by statutory instrument subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament; and

(b)may make such transitional provision as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.

(6)In this section—

• " duty " means a duty imposed by any rule of law or by or under any enactment; and

• " personal injury" includes any disease and any impairment of a person's physical or mental condition.

(7)For the purposes of this section, in any case where a trade union consists wholly or mainly of organisations or representatives of organisations, the members of such of those organisations as have their head or main office in Great Britain shall be treated as members of the union.

17Recovery of sums awarded in proceedings involving trade unions and employers' associations

(1)Where in any proceedings an amount is awarded by way of damages, costs or expenses—

(a)against a trade union or employers' association ;

(b)against trustees in whom property is vested in trust for a trade union or employers' association, in their capacity as such and otherwise than in respect of a breach of trust on their part; or

(c)against members or officials of a trade union or employers' association on behalf of themselves and all of the members of the union or association;

no part of that amount shall be recoverable by enforcement against any protected property.

(2)In this section " protected property " means any property—

(a)belonging to the trustees concerned otherwise than in their capacity as such ;

(b)belonging to any member of the union or association concerned otherwise than jointly or in common with the other members;

(c)belonging to any official of the union or association concerned who is neither a member nor such a trustee ;

(d)comprised in a political fund of the union concerned; or

(e)comprised in a provident benefits fund of the union concerned.

(3)In subsection (2) above—

• " political fund " means a fund which is a political fund for the purposes of section 3 of the Trade Union Act 1913 and which is (and was at the time when the act in respect of which the proceedings are brought was done) subject to rules of the union which prevent property which is or has been comprised in the fund from being used for financing strikes or other industrial action;

• "provident benefits" includes any payment, expressly authorised by the rules of the union, which is made to a member during sickness or incapacity from personal injury or while out of work, or to an aged member by way of superannuation, or to a member who has met with an accident or has lost his tools by fire or theft, and includes a payment in discharge or aid of funeral expenses on the death of a member or the wife of a member, or as provision for the children of a deceased member; and

• " provident benefits fund " means a separate fund which is maintained in accordance with the rules of the union for the purpose only of providing provident benefits.

18Meaning of " trade dispute " 19. Amendment of sections 13 and 30 of the 1974 Act

(1)Section 29 of the 1974 Act (meaning of "trade dispute ") shall be amended as follows.

(2)In the opening words of subsection (1) (which define a " trade dispute " by reference to the parties to the dispute and its connection with certain matters)—

(a)for " between employers and workers " there shall be substituted " between workers and their employer ";

(b)the words " , or between workers and workers," shall be omitted; and

(c)for " is connected with " there shall be substituted " relates wholly or mainly to ".

(3)In subsection (2) (which extends the definition to certain disputes with a Minister of the Crown who does not employ the workers in question) for " employer and those workers " there shall be substituted " those workers and their employer ".

(4)In subsection (3) (which extends the definition to disputes relating to matters occurring outside Great Britain) for " occurring outside Great Britain " there is substituted " occurring outside the United Kingdom, so long as the person or persons whose actions in the United Kingdom are said to be in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute relating to matters occurring outside the United Kingdom are likely to be affected in respect of one or more of the matters specified in subsection (1) of this section by the outcome of that dispute ".

(5)Subsection (4) (which provides that a dispute with a trade union or employers' association is necessarily to be treated as a dispute to which workers or, as the case may be, employers are a party) shall be omitted.

(6)In subsection (6) for the definition of " worker " there is substituted—

• “"worker", in relation to a dispute with an employer, means—

  (a)

  a worker employed by that employer; or

  (b)

  a person who has ceased to be employed by that employer where—

  (i)

  his employment was terminated in connection with the dispute ; or

  (ii)

  the termination of his employment was one of the circumstances giving rise to the dispute.”.

(7)The amendments made by this section do not affect the question whether an act done by a person is done by him in contemplation or furtherance of a dispute, whether he is a party to the dispute or not.

19Amendment of sections 13 and 30 of the 1974 Act.

(1)In section 13 of the 1974 Act (acts in contemplation or furtherance of trade disputes) subsection (2) shall cease to have effect.

(2)In section 30 of the 1974 Act (interpretation), in the translation of " tort" as respects Scotland, for the words from " any " to " reparation " there shall be substituted the word " delict ".