The newly elected Labour government promised a wide set of employment law changes in its election campaign. The government's Deal for Working People is set to be introduced within 100 days of its election success. The King's Speech last week, which covered the Employment Rights Bill, focused on zero-hour contracts, fire and rehire, additional day-one rights, establishing a single enforcement body and drilling down into trade union legislation. But what does that mean for employers? We explore what to expect from the proposed reforms.
Perhaps the most talked about part of the Employment Rights Bill is the expansion of current employment protections by removing the requirement of a minimum period of service for safeguarding against "ordinary" unfair dismissal and making it a day-one right. This will be subject to rules relating to qualifying probationary periods. It is still unclear exactly how it will work but it is likely to be quite tricky to navigate for employers and will also likely lead to a higher number of claims brought in the employment tribunals.
Making it subject to qualifying probationary periods means that employers may well make more use of probationary periods and start to bring in longer probationary periods to offset the impact of the higher protection for unfair dismissal.
Family-friendly rights have undergone a wave of change recently, including the introduction of unpaid carer's leave entitlement...
Over the last year, beyond traditional healthcare and federal procurement matters, the government has pursued federal False Claims Act (FCA) investigations and enforcement across high-risk areas, i...