Despite the 28 reforms to employment law outlined in the much vaunted Employment Rights Bill, some policies outlined in the Labour Party Manifesto were notably missing says Chris Wilkinson from Expert HR Solutions. So what else can we expect he asks? We know that the government have been consulting with both employers representatives and unions over the Employment Rights Bill. We also know there is tension between these two parties with the employers side wanting to keep as much flexibility as possible and the unions wanting to tighten employee protection.
What do we know so far?
The Employment Rights Bill introduces day one rights for both parental and carers leave.
- The Carers Leave Act 2023 came into force in April 2024 giving carers the right to unpaid carers leave whilst at the same time considering the impact on small employers. The government are thinking of making this leave paid.
- Other family friendly statutory pay is currently around £185 / week for a full-time employee. Is this the rate the government are considering for carers? Also will the government amend the duration from 1 or 2 weeks to up to 39 weeks as for other family friendly leave.
To offset the increased day one right for protection from dismissal the government is proposing a 9 month statutory probation period. During this the employer will be required to undertake a proportionate assessment of an employee’s suitability to the role. We await further detail on the process to be followed and whether this will be a light touch rather than a full dismissal process.
An amendment to the Equality Act means that employers have a duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment in respect of all protected characteristics by a third party.
Pregnancy discrimination is likely to be extended to protect women from dismissal for the first six months of returning to work.
So let’s take a look at what is missing from the Make Work Pay plan in the manifesto.
One way was to give employees the right to switch off. It would appear this is to be introduced in the form of a Statutory Code of Practice rather than legislation. This means that employees will be unable to make a specific claim because there is no specific legislation. However, they could advocate a failure to follow the Code this could create an uplift in any tribunal award or demonstrate loss of trust and confidence in the employer.
The government is proposing that zero hours contracts are outlawed and will introduce anti-avoidance measures. For instance they propose employers must offer a guaranteed hours contract specifying the working pattern including the days and hours at the end of every reference period. The reference period is still to be defined! This has the potential to greatly increase employers costs at a time when flexibility is needed.
- We await further clarification on the notice to cancel a shift. We believe employers will required to pay for short notice cancellation of a shift e,g. if the shift is of 8 hours duration cancelling with less than 8 hours notice.
Another missing piece is the intention to simplify the employment status structure from; self-employed, employee and worker to; worker and self-employed. This means anyone the business engages who is not genuinely self-employed will have full employment rights protection. This will result in significant increased business costs for paid holiday, sickness, your business insurances, employers national insurance and so on!
The following will probably be brought in over the full term of this parliament and will be subject to consultation but not necessarily full parliamentary process.
- Extension of the Freedom of Information Act to include private companies that undertake public contracts.
- Review of Health and Safety Regulations to include extreme temperatures in workplaces, Covid, and Neuro Diversity.
- Review of parental leave.
We will keep you posted but if you have any questions call us on 01202 611033.
