EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS BILL UPDATE

👩🏼⚖️⚖️ I can confirm that the Employment Rights Bill was published today….  all 158 pages of it!!

Whilst I sit here with my late-night reading 💻 and a Gin 🍸 in hand, I am sharing some of the key changes I have spotted so far in my very brief scan of the document.  I’ve tried to keep it as simple as I can without using too much legal jargon 👩🏼⚖️🤔

💡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!!

💡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the 2-year qualifying period to bring a claim for unfair dismissal (as long as they started work and the offer wasn’t withdrawn).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.

💡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.

So, what’s missing that we expected to see based on the Labour Manifesto?

❌A right to switch off.

❌A requirement to report on ethnicity and disability pay gaps for large employers.

❌A single status of worker or transition to a simpler two-part employment status.

Will they come in the next labour government in 5 years? 🤔 Who knows 🤷🏼♀️

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.

If you would like to read 📕the Bill I will put the link in the comments. I’m not expecting many takers on this though 🫣🤣

Or you could join Kat Moody of Richard Reed Solicitors and myself on the 5th of November for another one of our 👩🏼⚖️💻 Legal Update Webinars where we will be discussing the Bill in much more detail.  The link 🔗 will be available next week so keep your eyes peeled 👀.

I will keep you updated with further things I come across in the coming weeks.

Nikki