As the House of Lords concludes its report stage of the Employment Rights Bill having implemented several significant amendments, we thought this would be a helpful moment to provide you with an update on a number of the recent changes to the Bill.
The Bill contains a wide-ranging set of changes to employment law including in the areas of unfair dismissal, sick pay, zero-hour contracts, fire and re-hire, industrial relations, flexible working, sexual harassment, collective redundancy and enforcement measures with the creation of the Fair Work Agency.
Some of the amendments to the Bill published on 23 July have Government backing and are likely to pass and others lack Government backing but are interesting.
The third reading of the Bill in the House of Lords is scheduled for 3 September. The Bill will then return to the House of Commons for consideration of the amendments made by the House of Lords.
1. Non-disclosure Agreements
A notable new addition to the Bill, is a provision concerning the use of confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements (“NDAs”). This proposal is backed by the Government, which issued a supporting press release on 8 July (see here).
Under the new clause, any term – whether in an employment contract or a settlement agreement – that seeks to prevent a worker from making allegations or disclosures relating to harassment or discrimination (as defined in the Equality Act 2010) will be void. This includes...
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