By Kalpana Shyamapant, employment law specialist at Harding Evans Solicitors.

2003 was a busy year for both employers and employment law practitioners. In April there were new rules enhancing rights to Maternity Leave, Paternity Leave and Adoption Leave. In December of last year new laws came into force protecting workers against discrimination based upon sexual orientation, religion and belief.

These are just a few examples of the raft of employment law legislation introduced in the last 12 months. But what delights does 2004 have in store for employers? Well, the bad news is that once again we face more new laws to get to grips with. But the good news is that there are a whole host of sources such as the internet to enable businesses to be prepared for these changes.

This month the limit on the amount of the compensatory award for Unfair Dismissal increases from £53,500 to £55,000. In addition Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Paternity Pay and Statutory Adoption Pay increases in April from £100 per week to £102.80 per week.

Other changes to take note of include from October the National Minimum Wage increasing again for workers aged 22 and over to £4.85 and for workers aged 18 to 21 to £4.10. These are provisional at the moment and are subject to change. There is also talk of introducing a National Minimum Wage for 16 and 17 years olds but we will have to wait to see if this becomes law.

Later in the year employers must be ready for Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. To date, the Act has only applied to employers with 15 or more employees. However this exemption will be removed from 1st October so that all businesses, no matter how many staff are employed, will have to comply with the provisions of the Act. These provisions will have far reaching implications including physically altering buildings and premises to make them accessible for disabled people.

Perhaps the most significant development in 2004 will be the new statutory minimum Disciplinary, Dismissal and Grievance Procedures which will be introduced in October. The idea behind these regulations is to encourage employers and employees to resolve disputes internally and to minimise litigation. It is estimated that these changes will have an impact on all businesses. At the moment only employers with 20 or more employees have to provide written information on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures.

However under this new legislation this threshold will be removed and will impose minimum internal disciplinary and grievance procedures which both the employer and employee must follow. If an employer dismisses an employee and fails to follow the statutory minimum steps, the dismissal will be automatically unfair. It is essential that employers are aware of these regulations and have suitable polices in place in order to avoid possible expensive compensation claims against them.

This year has a great deal in store for all business in terms of employment law and to avoid being caught off guard it is essential that you prepare well in advance. The majority of mistakes occur when information is not correctly communicated to staff. It is recommended that you have systems in place so everyone in the workplace knows what to expect, and seek specialist employment law advice to ensure you stay on the right side of the law.