The Labour Government published their Employment Rights Bill on 10 October 2024. The bill spans near 150 pages and contains numerous provisions updating individuals' employment rights.
Although the Bill is very much in the early stage of its journey through Parliament, there are several key takeaways from the Bill’s current drafting.
Unfair Dismissal
The Bill proposes to remove the two-year qualifying period on Unfair Dismissal claims.
Unfair Dismissal will be a “day one” employment right. The current draft also provides the Secretary of State with the power to modify an individual’s right to bring an Unfair Dismissal claim if they are still within a, currently undefined, “initial period of employment.” This will be a point of consultation in the near future.
Third Party Harassment
The Bill proposes that an employer will now have a duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent third parties from harassing their employees in the course of their employment.
Fire and Re-hire
The Bill proposes to limit the practice of employers varying employment contracts by dismissing employees and then re-engaging them on different terms, known colloquially as “fire and re-hire”.
Under this proposal, should the reason (or principal reason) for dismissing an employee be to vary the employee’s contract of employment, the dismissal will be deemed automatically unfair.
An employer will need to evidence that:
the reason for the variation is to eliminate, prevent or reduce significant financial difficulty that was affecting, or would likely affect in the immediate future, the employer’s ability to carry on their business; and
in all the circumstances the employer could not reasonably have avoided the need to make the variation.
Zero Hours Contracts
The Bill proposes steps to limit the practice of Zero Hours Contracts. To confirm, employees who prefer having zero-hours contract will be able to remain on those terms.
Employers will be required to offer a zerohours worker a guaranteed-hours contract based on the hours they have clocked up during a 12-week period.
Should any changes be made to a zero-hours worker’s shift, or if a shift is cancelled, the worker will also be entitled to “reasonable” (yet to be defined) notice. Should an employer fail to provide “reasonable” notice, then the worker may present a claim to the Employment Tribunal.
Flexible Working
Further to the update on 6 April 2024 that made a flexible working request a day one right, the Bill proposes to limit an employer’s right to refuse flexible working requests.
Although the statutory grounds of refusal remain the same, an employer will have to evidence that it is reasonable to refuse the application on such grounds. An employer must also explain why such grounds are reasonable in their outcome letter to the employee.
Protected Disclosure
A less publicised amendment is the proposed addition to the list of “Qualifying Disclosures” under section 43B of the Employment Rights Act 1996 regarding sexual harassment.
This would mean that should an employee be dismissed, or put to a detriment, for the reason of disclosing that sexual harassment had occurred (or was likely to occur), then they will be entitled to bring a claim to the Employment Tribunal.
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)
Both the waiting period and lower earnings limit for SSP will be removed. Employees, regardless of earnings, will now be entitled to some level of SSP from the first day that they are ill.
The Bill is set for a second reading on 21 October 2024 in the House of Commons and will likely be October 2026 before any of the above proposals become law.
There are a notable number of aspects missing from the Bill that had been promised by the Labour Government such as the “right to switch off” and the single status of a worker. The Government have included these in a “Next Steps” document.
Should you require advice about the immediate and future impact of the Employment Rights Bill on your business, please contact Jane Sinnamon, Partner and Employment Law Specialist at Collingwood Legal.