The King’s speech – employment law proposals

The first King's Speech of the new Labour government promises to make some radical changes to UK employment law that will impact both employers and employees significantly. Specifically, it is proposed that an Employment Rights Bill (Bill) will be introduced. The Bill is designed to implement Labour’s ‘Plan to Make Work Pay: Delivering A New Deal for Working People’. The key features of the Bill include:

• Day One Rights: The right to parental leave and sick pay will become rights available to employees from the first day of employment, as will the right to claim unfair dismissal (with allowances for probationary periods).
• Flexible Working: Will become the ‘default’ from day one of employment with employers required to accommodate this insofar as is reasonable.
• Enhanced Protections for mothers: It will be unlawful to dismiss a woman who has had a baby for six months after her return to work (except in specific circumstances).
• Banning 'Fire and Rehire': Employers will be prohibited from dismissing then rehiring employees under less favourable terms.
• Banning Zero-Hours Contracts: ‘Exploitative’ zero-hours contracts will be banned to ensure that workers have a right to a contract that reflects the hours they regularly work.
• Statutory Sick Pay: The lower earnings limit and waiting period will be removed.
• Collective Redundancy Consultation: Employers will need to count all staff across all locations when assessing whether the trigger point for collective consultation has been reached.
• Trade Unions: The law on minimum service levels in relation to industrial action (which was introduced by the previous government) will be repealed. The process of statutory recognition for trade unions will be simplified. A new right will be introduced for workers and union members to access a union within workplaces.
• Enforcement: A new body called the Fair Work Agency with extensive powers to inspect workplaces and enforce compliance with employment laws will be established.

In addition to the Bill, the Government will also introduce the Equality (Race and Disability) Bill, which will provide for mandatory ethnicity and disability pay reporting for larger employers and enshrine in law the right to equal pay for ethnic minorities and disabled people.

These proposals potentially reflect a significant shift in UK employment law and employers will need to ensure that they keep up with developments as these (broad) proposals are converted into legislation. As ever, the devil will be in the detail and it is likely that many of these proposals will be subject to change as the legislation is drafted and debated in Parliament.

If you have any questions about how these proposals could affect your business, you can call our Employment Law team today on 0113 207 0000.