Changes to Employment Law under new Government
The new Labour Government has pledged to introduce an Employment Bill within the first 100 days, and there are likely to be some significant changes on the horizon.
What could we expect to see?
Enhanced Worker Rights: Labour have proposed creating a single status of “worker” for everyone that is not a genuinely self-employed individual, with a commitment to enhancing worker rights across all sectors. This would then mean that all workers, regardless of their contractual terms, would have the same basic rights and protections and could lead to increased regulations surrounding hiring practices. It has also been suggested that the practice of ‘fire and rehire’ will be banned.
Unfair Dismissal – a day one right?: Currently, employees need two years’ continuous service to be able to bring a claim for unfair dismissal, but under the suggested proposals, Labour plan to make Unfair Dismissal a day one right to all workers. This will be subject to relevant contractual probationary periods but will still bring about a large change to workers employment rights and significantly increase the burden on employers.
Increase to the Minimum Wage: Proposed increases in the minimum wage could generate a marked change in salary expectations across certain sectors.
Statutory Sick Pay: Labour have proposed to increase SSP (although no detail has yet been given as to what this increase may be) and make it available to all workers from day one. This would also remove the current requirement of “3 qualifying days” before SSP has to be paid by employers.
Zero-hour contracts: Labour propose to introduce the right to be entitled to a regular contract after working regular hours for 12 weeks or more. Although it has been labelled as a ‘ban’ on zero-hour contracts, it appears to be more of an entitlement to anyone working regular hours to be offered a regular contract if they so wish.
Time limits on bringing a claim: Employees currently have three months, less a day, from the date of an incident to bring a claim. Labour are proposing plans to extend this from 3 months to 6 and remove the statutory caps on compensation limits for claims. It has also been suggested that Directors may become personally liable for unpaid tribunal awards and may be able to be sued in a private capacity for unpaid monies.
Trade Union Law: Strengthening trade union rights and protections is likely to be key on Labour’s agenda.
If you have any questions relating to the proposed changes and how this may impact your business, or if you are not sure what steps you could be taking in order to prepare for or mitigate the impact of the proposed changes, please contact our Employment Law Team for further guidance.