Employers of every size and sector will be affected by the UK Government’s proposed employment law changes.
Before the Labour Party won July’s General Election, it committed to deliver the ‘biggest upgrade to rights at work for a generation.’ It also pledged to do this at a rapid pace, starting the process of drafting, consulting on and refining new legislation in its first one hundred days in office.
Though it will be a while before any new rules come into force, you should be aware of the changes and start to think about updating your policies.
Day one rights
Under current law, many employment rights do not begin until staff have completed two years’ service. These include the right to bring an unfair dismissal claim. Labour have stated that they will make such rights ‘day one rights’. The ability to bring a claim for unfair dismissal from the first day of your employment will make it much harder to undo a recruitment mistake, meaning employers should be more careful about hiring and vetting processes, putting probationary periods in contracts, and ensure that any concerns around performance or conduct are recorded in writing.
Worker status
Labour proposes to remove the distinction between workers and employees and give that group rights which are currently only given to employees. This will affect employers that use “bank staff” and zero hours contract workers including in the charity, social care, tourism, and hospitality sectors., In preparation, employers may want to review and streamline the individuals on their bank roster.
Flexibility
To counter ‘one-sided flexibility,’ Labour proposes to tackle the use of ‘exploitative’ zero hours contracts and require reasonable notice for shift changes. You may need to review your contracts and how you organise shifts and rotas.
Sick pay
Another of the pre-election proposals was that statutory sick pay would be payable from the first day of absence, rather than the fourth day. Employers would be well advised to institute more strategic systems of absence record-keeping and management.
Workers’ voice
We also expect staff to get more opportunities to join trade unions. As a result, you may need to accommodate new rights for trade unions and their reps to organise in your workplace and adapt your induction processes for staff.
Managing change with prism
These are just a few of the expected changes to employment rights, and you will need to keep up to speed as the detail gets released, consulted upon, and brought into force. Lindsays’ fixed-fee prism service can keep you on top of this and help you prepare for change, managing any reputational or legal risks that could affect your organisation.
