Last week there were a lot of headlines around this huge piece of legislation that has the intention of strengthening employee rights for many employees.
The good news is that most of this will take a while to be approved, but some things employers need to start thinking about. As always, I am here to offer advice and guidance so, please get in touch with any queries.
Harassment – an employer will have ‘full’ liability for third parties! This is a major risk for employers.
Sexual Harassment
Will be protected under Whistleblowing in the future (Protected Disclosures). This brings a further layer and burden on process and risk for employers and can create a 25% uplift in costs at an employment tribunal.
Unfair Dismissal/Day 1 Right
As expected, they have removed the 2-year qualifying period to bring a claim for unfair dismissal (as long as they started work and the offer wasn’t withdrawn). This will make the need for high-quality recruitment processes essential, as an employer will no longer be able to terminate someone in the first two years without a good reason or a documented process during a probation period. This is estimated to positively support 9 million employees.
Probation Periods
Further consultation with the govt is to take place on this, and we are expecting to see a cap of 6 months, but rumours suggest it could be 9 months. There are multiple options this could be enforced but we still await further information.
Zero Hours
A little complicated but in general there will be a guaranteed hours provision, a right to reasonable notice and a payment for shifts cancelled at short notice.
Flexible Working
A few small changes, but no further major changes from what I can see on this.
SSP
As expected, it will be payable from day 1. This is a big financial burden for SME’s and I fully expect that short-term absences will increase as there is no longer a need for an employee to “think twice” about taking time off due to loss of pay when it is for non-genuine reasons. The minimum earning criteria will also be removed with a % of pay rule payable instead.
Redundancy
The 20 employees affected guideline for collective consultation will now apply to the whole business and not just one site.
Fire and Re-hire
It will be automatically unfair to dismiss an employee for refusing a contract variation! A very limited exception to this is that a business can show serious financial issues that threaten the business staying open and must have undertaken a lot of consultation first. This is a huge risk for bigger businesses, but it may be easier to justify this exception in a smaller business!!
Equality
Any business with 250 employees or over may be required to produce an equality action plan.
Statement of Particular / Contracts
Must include a section on union rights.
Bereavement Leave
A statutory right will be introduced for a period of one week. It remains at two weeks for parental bereavement leave. Most businesses already do this as good practice but will become law.
Enforcement Agency
A newly created government body will be able to pursue employers that behave badly and fail to comply with employment legislation. I suspect this is to prevent the P&O Ferries issues from happening again.
At this moment in time there are no confirmed dates for all these changes by the government, however, if you believe the papers, then it is rumoured to be October 2026. But that remains to be seen as there is still a lot to do.
For further discussions around how this will affect your business please get in touch with Carrie!