In our Employment Essentials series, we share our latest top picks of UK employment law developments that may affect your business.
This month, our top 10 picks are:
Proposed legislative changes
Latest hot topic news
Case law updates
Proposed legislative changes
1. Ban on exclusivity clauses to be extended
Since January 2016, exclusivity clauses that prevent workers on zero hours contracts from working for other employers have been banned. The Government has announced that it intends to extend the ban on exclusivity clauses to contracts where the worker's guaranteed weekly income is below or equivalent to the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL), which is currently 123 per week (revised annually every tax year).
Next steps - legislation for these reforms will be laid before Parliament "later this year".
2. Future restrictions on rail strikes
As the RMT announces intended strike action over pay freezes, terms and conditions, and planned job cuts, the Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, has said the Government intends to introduce laws requiring minimum numbers of rail staff to work during a strike. The laws would make any industrial action illegal if those levels were not met. Unsurprisingly, unions are strongly opposing any such laws.
3. Queen's Speech – employment implications
As regards employment law, the Queen's Speech on 10 May 2022 was more notable for what was missing than what was included. As expected, the long-awaited Employment Bill announced back in the 2019 Queen's...
Russia's Defense Ministry is reporting alleged battlefield successes on Max, but some of its claims lack evidence. Even Russian military bloggers are questioning claims that Ukrainian forces have ...