Peter Cheese explains the professional body’s involvement with the Employment Rights Act
The Employment Rights Act represents the biggest set of changes in employment legislation in a generation. The government intends to modernise employment practices and embed key principles of day-one employment rights, improving job security and strengthening the position of unions in workplaces as critical pillars of their reforms. As employment rights minister Kate Dearden notes, the 28 provisions will place a significant demand on every organisation – in particular HR practitioners and teams, requiring them to review and update policies, communicate changes to staff and ensure people managers understand and comply with new legal obligations.
The CIPD has been closely involved in consultations with the government, other employer bodies and unions from the outset, and we are pleased that there has been clear recognition of the critical role our profession will play. The consultations to date have not been easy, with the challenge of manifesto pledges made by the Labour party and determination not to ‘water down’, but we were pleased to help achieve the important compromise to retain an unfair dismissal qualification period, albeit over the reduced period of six months, which allowed the Act to be passed.
There are still a number of measures where the details will be subject to further consultation before they are finalised in secondary legislation. Some of these consultations are...
Two Canada-based steel companies, Farjess Inc. and Royal Canadian Steel Inc., along with their part-owner and president, Feroz Jessani, have agreed to pay $19 million to resolve allegations that t...