As widely trailed, the first King’s Speech of the new government included a promise to enact an Employment Rights Bill, which is promised in the first 100 days of the Parliament.
The speech itself said little more than that the Bill will “ban exploitative practices and enhance employment rights”.
The Briefing notes, however refer to the “Plan to Make Work Pay”, issued shortly before the election, claiming that the Employment Rights Bill will deliver on the policies set out in this pre-election document.
If all these promises are indeed enacted, it will lead to some of the most significant changes to employment law seen in many years. Some are calling it the biggest employment law bill since 1975.
But what is the Government proposing exactly? Louise Taft, employment lawyer at Jurit LLP, explores.
Day 1 Rights
This has the potential to have the biggest impact on day-to-day HR practice.
Labour says it will scrap the two-year qualification period to bring claims for unfair dismissal, though still allowing for probationary periods. It will no longer be possible to circumvent procedures to dismiss staff with short service, except perhaps during a probationary period.
As ever, the devil will be in the detail in terms of just what is needed to fairly dismiss at the end of a probationary period, and what period of time will be considered fair.
What to do now
HR professionals can get ahead of the game by ensuring that all contracts contain probationary periods, and that managers are sufficiently supported to ensure that new hires are monitored and assessed within that period.
Zero Hours Contracts
The Government has promised a right to a contract that reflects the number of hours regularly worked.
They also want to ensure workers get reasonable notice of change in shifts or working time, with “proportionate” compensation available for cancelled or shortened shifts.
What to prepare for
It’s clear that Zero Hours contracts will need to be reviewed once the detail of the new legislation is published. Greater care will be needed with Zero Hours staff to ensure that they are given adequate notice of changes in shifts to avoid having to pay compensation.
Fire and rehire
Labour had promised to ban this, but now says they will reform the law “to provide effective remedies” as well as replacing the recently introduced statutory Code of Practice.
No business should ever embark on fire and rehire without careful thought and planning – existing laws on unfair dismissal can bite where there is inadequate consultation.
What to do now
Moving forward, HR professionals in organisations restructuring in this way, will need to pay close attention to reforms to ensure that they stay on the right side of the new legislation.
Sick Pay
Labour promises to scrap the lower earnings threshold for statutory sick pay and make workers eligible to claim sick pay from day one of falling ill. This will bring many more ill workers in the scope of statutory sick pay, opening up access to an estimated 1.5 million people.
How to prepare
HR professionals will need to ensure that payroll is implementing the changes to avoid Employment Tribunal claims.
Flexible Working
Labour has said that it will make flexible working the default from day one for all workers, with employers required to accommodate this “as far as is reasonable”.
For the time being, there is little detail around how this.
What to do
HR professionals will need to wait to discover exactly what will change, but whatever is implemented, businesses are likely to face more requests to work flexibly, which will need to be considered carefully in line with the new rules.
Maternity Discrimination
One concrete proposal is to make it unlawful to dismiss a woman within six months of returning from maternity leave “except in specific circumstances”.
HR professionals will need to put processes in place to ensure that organisations comply with the new rule, ensuring that the “specific circumstances” to be detailed in the new legislation will apply.
What was missing from the King’s Speech?
There are other proposals from Government to establish a Fair Work Agency to strengthen enforcement of rights, update trade union legislation, introduce a Fair Pay Agreement in the social care sector and to reinstate the School Support Staff Negotiating Body.
However, the briefing note doesn’t contain any proposals to move towards a single status of worker, as trailed in the Plan to Make Work Pay. This suggests that Government recognises that this will require more extensive consultation.
Other items missing from the briefing note were proposals to change the rules on collective consultation, to reinforce existing rights and protections in TUPE situations, greater protection for the self-employed and the right to switch off.
It’s unlikely that these have gone away, and we expect these will come later, so HR professionals should still keep these on their employment law radar.
As can be seen, there are some potentially seismic proposals here. However, many of them lack detail at this stage, so HR professionals and employment lawyers alike await the publication of the Bill with interest.