Elaine Huttley explains the actions people professionals need to take to prepare for upcoming legal reforms
With the upcoming employment rights bill expected to come into force soon, HR will once again be pivotal in delivering what the government calls ‘the biggest upgrade to rights at work for a generation’. People professionals will be under pressure to manage change and to respond to questions from senior leaders about the main risks to the organisation. So how can HR prepare?
Arguably the biggest change that the bill will introduce is day-one unfair dismissal rights. While details of the ‘light touch’ process that the government has said will apply during the initial period of employment, line managers will need to understand how to conduct fair and reasonable disciplinary and capability processes to minimise the legal risk to their businesses.
More employees will be able to bring unfair dismissal claims and will have longer to do so, as the timeframe to bring most claims will increase from three to six months.
Line managers may also need training in other areas. For example, collective consultation in a redundancy situation will be triggered more frequently, and it will be more costly if mistakes are made as the maximum protective award will rise from 90 to 180 days’ pay.
In addition, employers will become responsible for any harassment...
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