An Employment Rights Revolution?
Keir Starmer promised to introduce a bill that would shake up employment law in the UK within 100 days of being in office and, just in the nick of time, Labour have fulfilled that pledge with an ambitious Employment Rights Bill.
There will be time in due course to take a closer look at some of the individual aspects but for now it is perhaps most useful to try and examine the Bill as a whole and what it is trying to achieve.
Unfair Dismissal
One of the main issues that Labour wanted to address upon coming into power is that an employee currently requires two years of service before they can bring a claim for unfair dismissal against their employer.
Under the new law, that time limit will be scrapped entirely and employees will be able to bring a claim on day one.
There is however an important exception to this. The day one rights will only be granted to ‘employees’ and not ‘workers’. There had been some expectation that Labour would do away with the somewhat artificial distinction between employees and workers. Labour insist that this is still something that they are looking into but it is part of longer-term plans and will not be featured in the Employment Rights Bill.
While giving more rights to employees, this move will no doubt lead to more claims before the Employment Tribunal. However, it is unlikely that it will lead to a massive influx of cases because of changes that are being made to probationary periods…
Probationary periods
Many of those in employment will be familiar with the idea of probationary periods; time after starting a new job when an employer can judge performance and decide whether the employee is right for the position.
While these might be relatively common within the context of employment contracts, they have not yet been given a proper statutory footing. This is set to change if the Employment Rights Bill becomes law.
The government is going to consult on what a probation period will look like but currently envisions it lasting for nine months. Employees will still have rights in that time but it will be a lot easier for employers to dismiss individuals who they do not think are right for the role.
Coupled with the new rules for unfair dismissal, this will create an interesting new dynamic in the workplace.
Zero-hour Contracts
Many hoped that the government would put an end to zero-hour contracts but the new Bill does not quite go that far.
Instead, workers who are on such contracts will have to be guaranteed a certain number of hours. Furthermore, shifts will have to be offered, changed or cancelled within a reasonable time else the worker will be entitled to compensation.
These reforms reflect a desire to strike a balance between workers and their bosses. An outright ban was a popular campaign promise but the reality is that many businesses rely on the flexibility of zero-hour contracts and the loss of these jobs would have an outsized impact on a financially vulnerable section of the population.
Other Changes
A raft of other reforms have been incorporated into the Bill including:
Statutory Sick Pay - Will start on the first day of absence instead of the fourth.
Fire and Rehire - This controversial practice will be banned entirely by making it an automatically unfair dismissal.
Harassment - Employers will be under a greater duty to prevent harassment of employees including from third parties.
Maternity and paternity rights - These will both be expanded and given greater protection.
Flexible working - Will become the default.
Strikes - Various strike restrictions introduced by the previous government will be repealed.
This might not be the revolution that many on the left hoped for but this suite of reforms is comprehensive and goes a long way towards addressing a range of weaknesses in the current system.
On top of that, it sets the table for further changes in the future. Removing the employee/worker distinction makes sense but will be a lot more palatable to businesses and unions alike if it is brought forward on the back of this Employment Rights Bill.
No podcast this week as we remain up-to-date with cases from the Supreme Court but keep an eye on your feed for new episodes when they drop.