Hot off the Press: Employment Rights Bill

10th October, 2024 by Sobia Ahmad

The Government has announced that the Employment Rights Bill is being introduced in Parliament later today (10 October 2024). This falls within the first 100 days of the new Labour Government taking power as promised. The Bill is a key part of Labour’s plans to help with the delivery of economic security and growth to businesses, workers and communities across the UK.

The Bill will bring forward 28 individual employment reforms, including the removal of the two-year qualifying period for unfair dismissal protection, “day one” rights for paternity, parental and bereavement leave, ending “exploitative” zero hours contracts and restricting fire and rehire practices.

Some of the key changes that we expect to see include:

The removal of the existing two-year qualifying period for protection from unfair dismissal. The Government’s aim is to ensure that all workers have a right to protection from unfair dismissal from “day one” on the job. The Government will consult on a statutory probation period for new hires to assess their suitability for a role.
Ending “exploitative” zero-hour contracts and low hours contracts. Individuals on those contracts will now have the right to a “guaranteed hours” contract if they work regular hours over a defined period. This will allow them security of earnings whilst allowing people to remain on zero hours contracts if preferred.
Ending “unscrupulous” employment practices and shutting down the loopholes that allow bullying fire and rehire and fire and replace practices.
Changing the law to make flexible working the default for all, unless the employer can prove it is unreasonable.
Introducing rights to paternity leave, unpaid parental leave and bereavement leave from “day one”.
Providing stronger protections for pregnant women and new mothers returning to work, including protection from dismissal whilst pregnant, on maternity leave and within six months of returning to work.
Tackling low pay by accounting for cost of living when setting the National Minimum Wage and removing discriminatory age bands.
Establishing a new Fair Work Agency that will bring together different enforcement bodies, enforce holiday pay for the first time and strengthen statutory sick pay.
Repealing the Minimum Service Levels introduced by the previous Government.

The “Make Work Pay” Plan doesn’t stop with the Employment Rights Bill. As an outlook to the future, the Government has also today published a “Next Steps” document outlining the reforms it will look to implement in the future. Subject to consultation, these changes include:

A right to “switch off”, preventing employees from being contacted out of hours, except in exceptional circumstances, to allow them the rest and recuperation they need to give 100% during their shift.
A strong commitment to end pay discrimination by expanding the Equality (Race and Disparity) Bill to make it mandatory for large employers to report their ethnicity and disability pay gap.
A move towards a single status of worker and transition towards a simpler two-part framework for employment status.
Reviews into the parental leave and carers leave systems to ensure they are delivering for employers, workers and their loved ones.

Look out for further information soon! We will send an update once full details of the new Employment Rights Bill have been published. In the meantime, you can find the Government’s press release here.

Sobia Ahmad comments:

These are some of the most radical changes we have seen to employment law in a long time. Keep an eye out for the full details of the Bill once they have been published, and be sure to sign up to one of our upcoming Employment Law Update seminars or webinar, where we will be sharing further details on the measures included in the Bill and future developments.

We also invite you to sign up to one of our upcoming Employment Law Update seminars and/or webinar from 15 to 23 October 2024 for free, where we will be reviewing the numerous employment law reforms being proposed by the new Labour Government, as well as the practical implications for employers and HR professionals. To view our current events and register your place, please click here.

The information on this site about legal matters is provided as a general guide only. Although we try to ensure that all of the information on this site is accurate and up to date, this cannot be guaranteed. The information on this site should not be relied upon or construed as constituting legal advice and Howes Percival LLP disclaims liability in relation to its use. You should seek appropriate legal advice before taking or refraining from taking any action.

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