Employment Act 1982 (repealed)

Trade disputes E+W+S

15 Actions in tort against trade unions and employers’ associations. E+W+S

(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, [F1 it is to be taken, in accordance with the following provisions, to have been authorised or endorsed by the union].

[F2 (3) An act shall be taken to have been authorised or endorsed by a trade union if it was done, or was authorised or endorsed—

(a) by any person empowered by the rules to do, authorise or endorse acts of the kind in question, or

(b) by the principal executive committee or the president or general secretary, or

(c) by any other committee of the union or any other official of the union (whether employed by it or not).

(3A) For the purposes of paragraph (c) of subsection (3)—

(a) any group of persons constituted in accordance with the rules of the union is a committee of the union; and

(b) an act shall be taken to have been done, authorised or endorsed by an official if it was done, authorised or endorsed by, or by any member of, any group of persons of which he was at the material time a member, the purposes of which included organising or co-ordinating industrial action.

(3B) The provisions of paragraphs (b) and (c) of subsection (3) apply notwithstanding anything in the rules of the union, or in any contract or rule of law, but subject as follows.]

[F3 (4) An act shall not be taken to have been authorised or endorsed by the union by virtue only of paragraph (c) of subsection (3) if it was repudiated by the principal executive committee or the president or general secretary as soon as reasonably practicable after coming to the knowledge of any of them.]

[F4 (5) Where an act is repudiated—

(a) written notice of the repudiation must be given to the committee or official in question, without delay, and

(b) the union must do its best to give individual written notice of the fact and date of repudiation, without delay—

(i) to every member of the union who the union has reason to believe is taking part, or might otherwise take part, in industrial action as a result of the act, and

(ii) to the employer of every such member.

(5A) The notice given to members in accordance with paragraph (b)(i) of subsection (5) must contain the following statement—

“ Your union has repudiated the call (or calls) for industrial action to which this notice relates and will give no support to unofficial industrial action taken in reponse to it (or them). If you are dismissed while taking unofficial industrial action, you will have no right to complain of unfair dismissal. ”

(5B) If subsection (5) or (5A) is not complied with, the repudiation shall be treated as ineffective.]

(6) An act shall not be treated as repudiated . . . F5 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.

[F6 (6A) The principal executive committee, president or general secretary shall be treated as so behaving if, on a request made to any of them within three months of the purported repudiation by a person who—

(a) is a party to a commercial contract whose performance has been or may be interfered with as a result of the act in question, and

(b) has not been given written notice by the union of the repudiation,

it is not forthwith confirmed in writing that the act has been repudiated.]

(7) In this section—

• [F7 “commercial contract” means any contract other than—

(a) a contract of service or apprenticeship, or

(b) any other contract under which a person agrees personally to do work or perform services for another;]

• “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;

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F8

• “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.

[F9 (9) In proceedings arising out of an act which is by virtue of this section taken to have been done by a trade union, the power of the court to grant an injunction or interdict includes power to require the union to take such steps as the court considers appropriate for ensuring—

(a) that there is no, or no further, inducement of persons to take part or to continue to take part in industrial action, and

(b) that no person engages in any conduct after the granting of the injunction or interdict by virtue of having been induced before it was granted to take part or to continue to take part in industrial action;

and the provisions of this section apply in relation to proceedings for failure to comply with any such injunction or interdict as they apply in relation to the original proceedings.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Words substituted by Employment Act 1990 (c. 38, SIF 43:5), s. 6(2)

F2 S. 15(3)–(3B) substituted for s. 15(3) by Employment Act 1990 (c. 38, SIF 43:5), s. 6(3)

F3 S. 15(4) substituted by Employment Act 1990 (c. 38, SIF 43:5), s. 6(4)

F4 S. 15(5)–(5B) substituted for s. 15(5) by Employment Act 1990 (c. 38, SIF 43:5), s. 6(5)

F5 Words repealed by Employment Act 1990 (c. 38, SIF 43:5), s. 16(2), Sch. 3 (subject as mentioned in S.I. 1990/2378, art. 6(c))

F6 S. 15(6A) inserted by Employment Act 1990 (c. 38, SIF 43:5), s. 6(6)

F7 Definition inserted by Employment Act 1990 (c. 38, SIF 43:5), s. 6(7)

F8 Definitions repealed by Employment Act 1990 (c. 38, SIF 43:5), ss. 6(7), 16(2), Sch. 3 (subject as mentioned in S.I. 1990/2378, art. 6(c))

F9 S. 15(9) added by Employment Act 1990 (c. 38, SIF 43:5), s. 6(8)

16 Limit on damages awarded against trade unions in actions in tort. E+W+S

(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 (a) 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)

[F10 or to any proceedings by virtue of Part I of the Consumer Protection Act 1987 (product liability).]

(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.

Textual Amendments

F10 Words inserted by Consumer Protection Act 1987 (c. 43, SIF 109:1), s. 48(1), Sch. 4 para. 8

17 Recovery of sums awarded in proceedings involving trade unions and employers’ associations. E+W+S

(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—(2 & 3 Geo. 5).

• “political fund” means a fund which is a political fund for the purposes of section 3 of the M1 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.

Marginal Citations

M1 1913 c. 30

18 Meaning of “trade dispute”. E+W+S

(1) Section 29 of the 1974 Act (meaning of “trade disputes”) 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.

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 The text of ss. 10(3)(4), 11, 18(1)–(6), 19 and 21(3) is in the form in which it was originally enacted: it was not reproduced in Statutes in Force and does not reflect any amendments or repeals which may have been made prior to 1.2.1991.

19 Amendment of sections 13 and 30 of the 1974 Act. E+W+S

(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”.

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C2 The text of ss. 10(3)(4), 11, 18(1)–(6), 19 and 21(3) is in the form in which it was originally enacted: it was not reproduced in Statutes in Force and does not reflect any amendments or repeals which may have been made prior to 1.2.1991.