A Kendal HR expert is warning businesses as major changes to employment law take effect in April.
Helen Russell, lead HR consultant and solicitor at Harrison Drury, said the new Employment Rights Act 2025 will have a major impact on employers, particularly when it comes to the responsibilities of line managers.
Ms Russell said: "You can have the best HR team, staff contracts and employee handbooks in the world, but if the person dealing with the initial report of an issue from an employee doesn’t take the right steps and deal with it properly, that’s where problems are likely to occur."
The Employment Rights Act 2025, described as the biggest shake-up of employment law in three decades, began being implemented in February.
From April, employees will be entitled to a number of ‘day one rights’ like statutory sick leave, paternity and parental leave entitlements.
The most substantial changes will take effect from October and will continue rolling out into 2027.
From October, employers will be required to take "all reasonable steps" to prevent sexual harassment, including the prevention of harassment by third parties.
This means employers could be liable for failing to do enough to protect employees from harassment by customers, suppliers and the public.
Ms Russell said: "Employers should concentrate on better management of absences, more considered and robust recruitment and selection, rigorous management of employee probations, and dealing better with complaints from...
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