Employment Committee Terms of Reference
The Employment Committee shall consist of a minimum of 3 members and maximum of 5 members of the council excluding the chairman of the council.
Committee members should have either qualifications or experience in HR matters or be prepared to attend relevant training.
The Employment Committee chair shall be elected at the Annual Council meeting in May.
The minimum attendance for a meeting of this committee to be quorate is 3 voting members.
The committee shall meet on an ad-hoc basis as necessary.
This committee is not authorised to expend funds, although it may make expenditure recommendations to Full Council on employment matters.
The committee shall:
- Delegate to the clerk:
- Line management of other staff
- Authority to seek external HR advice as required
- Appoint an independent councillor (not a member of this committee) to investigate an employment dispute (grievances) between a staff member and the Council (or a Councillor, or another staff member) and attempt to make balanced observations and recommendations for consideration by council
- Appoint an independent member (not a member of this committee) to investigate a disciplinary matter (as per the council’s adopted Disciplinary Policy) and make recommendations for consideration by council
- In conjunction with the clerk, review employment policies and staff contracts (including job descriptions) on an annual basis, as per best practice
- Ensure council complies with all HR and Health & Safety requirements
- Appoint a recruitment panel
- Recommend pay awards to council for consideration
- Address long-term or repeated staff absence
- Oversee any dismissal process including redundancy
- Appoint one or two of its members to hold the clerk’s appraisal, in conjunction with the chair of the council
- Receive feedback from the clerk in respect of other staff appraisals held by the clerk (considering potential training requirements or salary recommendations)
Version control
Approved: 12/05/25
Minute: 006/M/25