The Employment Rights Bill (ERB) continues to dominate headlines and for good reason; not only is it the biggest shake-up of employment law in decades but, in recent weeks, certain provisions have also been the source of extended debate between the House of Commons and House of Lords.
A key focus for the debate has been the government’s proposal to allow an employee to bring a claim for unfair dismissal from ‘day one’ of employment rather than having to wait two years, as is currently the case. Employers and business representative bodies have raised concerns about this proposal from the outset, with those concerns often focussing on the potential detrimental impact this could have on recruitment, particularly for young people. The House of Lords shared these fears and proposed an amendment that the right should attach after six months in employment.
The Bill has been in Parliamentary “ping-pong” between the Commons and the Lords for several weeks partly because of this issue (although other proposed amendments to the right to a guaranteed hours contract and trade union reform are also in the mix). However, this impasse may be about to be lifted after agovernment announcement was issued last Thursday.
This announced that unfair dismissal will not become a ‘day one’ right but rather that the Bill will be amended to introduce a six-month qualifying period before employees have the right to claim ordinary unfair dismissal. This followed a government-facilitated negotiation...
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