All change for UK employment law?

Plans by the new Labour Government to overhaul key areas of UK employment law have been well publicised. The King’s Speech in July confirmed the Government’s intention to press ahead and implement its “Plan to Make Work Pay”, a raft of changes set out in its pre-election manifesto. Labour promised change within 100 days of coming into power and we expect this means an Employment Rights Bill being released by mid-October, with a draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill to follow.

The key changes?

We have set out a summary below of those proposed changes which may have significant impact on your business and relationships with your staff.

The right to claim unfair dismissal from day one of employment

Employees will no longer have to wait 2 years for unfair dismissal protection. The notes to the King’s Speech state that Government “will continue to ensure employers can operate probationary periods to assess new hires”. Will this, effectively, exempt unfair dismissal claims during probation, or will there be a simplified dismissal procedure required for probationary employees? The devil will be in the detail, but this is a significant change for businesses of any size.

Flexible working

The Employment Rights Bill is likely to contain provisions to make flexible working a default right from day one. This is likely to be the case for all workers and not just employees. Employers will be required to accommodate this "as far as is reasonable" to reflect the modern workplace. This reflects the position set out in the Plan to Make Work Pay, which stated that default flexible working would be required except where it is "not reasonably feasible". We know that some businesses, recruiting former teachers will consider leave periods tied to school holidays and whether the concept of flexibility will be taken that far will be interesting to see. We again await the legislative detail and definitions and a clear understanding of what the default position will involve. 

Right to disconnect

The Government has re-stated the intention that a new "right to switch off" will be introduced, providing workers with the right to disconnect from work outside of working hours and not be contacted by their employer. This would follow similar models to those that are already in place in Ireland and Belgium, giving workers and employers the opportunity to have constructive conversations and work together on bespoke workplace policies or contractual terms that benefit both parties. Recent commentary suggests that workers would not have a standalone right to claim where there is a breach by the employer, but a breach may lead to increased compensation in respect of connected claims.

Zero hour contracts

Ensuring workers have a right to a contract that reflects the number of hours they regularly work

The Government is looking to ban exploitative zero hours contracts and ensure that workers have the right to:

• a contract that reflects the number of hours they regularly work, based on a 12-week reference period; and
• reasonable notice of any change in shifts or working time, with compensation that is proportionate to the notice given for any shifts cancelled or curtailed.

Such changes may have significant impact for those businesses who currently rely upon flexible workforce models.

Changing T&Cs - Ending ‘fire and rehire’

Labour committed to end the practice of "fire and rehire" as a lawful means of changing an employee's contractual terms. It accepts that, when there is genuinely no alternative, businesses must be able to restructure to remain viable. However, it considers this "must follow a proper process based on dialogue and common understanding between employers and workers". It said that the law will be reformed to provide effective remedies against abuse and a strengthened statutory code of practice will replace that brought into force by the Conservatives.

What can employers do now?

It will take time for many of the key changes to come into force, so there will be time to prepare, but there are simple steps for employers to consider now, including a review of relevant policies and procedures, plus a planned roll-out of training for managers on key processes, such as managing probation or flexible working requests.

The key step for now is to keep on top of developments and be prepared to respond to consultations either directly or through industry bodies – we will be monitoring developments closely, reporting on key changes and delivering a series of briefings as the changes