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The Employment Rights Bill has hit choppy waters as the House of Lords has refused to back down over its various objections – including to “day one” unfair dismissal rights and the guaranteed hours scheme for zero and low hours workers. The government’s flagship bill is not sunk, but it is far from plain sailing into port.

The Employment Rights Bill was expected to have become an Employment Rights Act long before now, but is currently stuck in parliament until the House of Lords and the House of Commons can agree on the final details.

On Tuesday evening, the House of Lords repeated its insistence on several key changes to the bill, including:

• a six-month qualifying period before employees can claim unfair dismissal (instead of the day one right not to be unfairly dismissed proposed by the government);
• an opt-out from the right to guaranteed hours for workers who want to stay on their existing zero/low hours contract;
• an explicit obligation on the government to take account of seasonal work when designing the guaranteed hours scheme for zero and low hours workers; and
• keeping the current 50% turnout requirement for industrial action ballots.

This is the second time the Lords have voted for changes along these lines. It’s normal for the Lords to propose changes, but less normal to continue to insist on them after they have been rejected by the Commons. The Lords’ refusal to accept day one unfair dismissal rights is particularly controversial, because this was clearly...

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