A landmark shift in UK employment law is imminent. As announced in The Times over the weekend, Labour will unveil a “once in a generation” overhaul of employment rights in the Employment Rights Bill on Thursday, 10th October. This legislation is set to significantly enhance the rights of millions of workers across the country and, in turn, increase costs for employers.
As we reported in our article following the election (link here) the key changes include:
- Unfair Dismissal: Employees will gain unfair dismissal protection from day 1. We are told, however, that employers will still be able to dismiss during the probationary period without following a full process. Probationary periods will be limited to a period of six months;
- Sick Pay: All employees will now be entitled to sick pay from their first day of illness. This is a substantial improvement over the current arrangement where the first three days of absence are unpaid;
- Enhanced Maternity and Paternity Rights: Mothers will be able to claim maternity pay from their first day of employment, and fathers will enjoy increased paternity pay entitlements;
A few of the earlier proposed changes appear not to have made the final cut. The well publicised “right to switch off” has now been reduced to guidance rather than a legal requirement for employers. In addition, the proposal to create a single status of worker seems to have been pushed back until later in the parliamentary year.
These significant changes will have far-reaching implications for both employers and employees. We will be closely monitoring these developments and will provide further information once the bill is released on Thursday.
