Our monthly employment law round up.
Right to disconnect
Angela Raynor, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, has indicated that the "right to disconnect" is likely to be contained in the Labour Party's manifesto at the next election. If legislated for it would prevent employers from contacting workers by phone or email outside of working hours. A similar right has already been introduced in France, Portugal and Ireland, and the Scottish Government has previously committed to having "meaningful discussions" about introducing it for government employees and those in devolved agencies.
"Summer Fridays"
As we look towards the better weather, a number of large multinationals are joining a growing trend of offering summer working hours. Organisations including Kelloggs, Asos and PWC are reportedly allowing employees to leave at lunchtime on Fridays, albeit subject to various caveats such as having already completed a full week's working hours and workload otherwise being manageable. Anticipated benefits include happier employees, improved retention and increased productivity.
Long-term absence at record high
Following on from last month's news that working days lost to sickness absence reached a record high in 2022 comes more information from the Office of National Statistics ("ONS"), this time confirming that 2.55 million people in the UK are not working due to long-term sickness. The statistics, reported in the ONS May 2023 UK labour market overview, show that both mental health...
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