The government published its Employment Rights Bill on 10 October. We round up what HR needs to know.
The bill outlined changes to employment law, which included: day-one unfair dismissal and parental leave rights, a ban on exploitative zero-hours contracts and fire and rehire practices, reformed statutory sick pay, and a repeal on anti-union legislation.
It also outlined plans to consult on a right to switch off, ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting, and creating a new employment status definition.
The legislation is not likely to come into force until autumn 2026 at the earliest.
Unfair dismissal and probation
The legislation is due to remove the two-year qualifying period for unfair dismissal, instead providing workers with a day-one protection from unfair dismissal.
Alongside the legislation, the government claimed that it will consult employers on updating the probationary period for new hires. It stated that it hoped to enable “businesses to take chances on hires while giving more people confidence to re-enter the job market or change careers”.
Alex Mizzi, legal director and employment lawyer at law firm Howard Kennedy, told HR magazine: “The government's announcements indicate that employers will be expected to give employees in their probation period at least some warning that their performance is not up to scratch before dismissing them.
“This is going to force employers to tighten up their processes for assessing performance for recent hires. At the...
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