The recent King’s Speech set out the legislative agenda for the new Labour government, with two draft bills that would enhance employment rights for employees.
The reality is that there is no cost to the Treasury in making the planned change – but the same cannot be said for employers.
Here is our short guide to what will be coming to your business in the very near future.
The right to claim unfair dismissal will become a ‘day one’ right instead of the present requirement for a two-year qualifying period.
This leaves open the question of the residual purpose of probationary periods and whether dismissal may yet be possible in that trial window.
Parental leave will also become a day one right along with a statutory right to bereavement leave.
The practice known as ‘fire and rehire’, which occurs when contractual terms need to be changed but are not agreed and are thus imposed unilaterally, will become unlawful.
Realistically this is a relatively rare phenomena and there is already a Code of Practice on Dismissal and Re-Engagement. That said, the plan is to eradicate this practice.
It will also become unlawful to dismiss a female within six months of return from maternity leave.
It is assumed that redundancy will still be a fair reason to dismiss within this period.
There is also a plan for a single enforcement body to enforce workers’ rights and another plan to extend the time limit for bringing tribunal claims from three to six months.
There is a clear commitment to ban what are called ‘exploitative zero-hours contracts’ and a change to the existing flexible working law to make it a default position subject only to a reasonably feasible test.
Finally, there is a pledge to address trade union law to ‘strengthen the worker voice’. This includes changing collective bargaining rights, the repeal of anti-strike legislation, a right of access to the workplace for unions and a duty to inform workers that they have a right to join a union. Whether or not you already have existing trade union relationships, this is a significant change in the landscape of industrial relations.
For advice on protecting yourself and your business, get in touch with employment law expert, Rebecca Dennis, partner at Goughs Solicitors rebeccadennis@goughs.co.uk.
