Employment Rights Bill – the biggest changes for a generation

Today, 10 October 2024, the Government has unveiled their long-awaited Employment Rights Bill, fulfilling their election manifesto pledge to introduce major reform to workers’ rights within 100 days of government. The bill is 158 pages long and introduces 28 individual employment reforms estimated to provide more rights to nine million workers.

Employees and businesses alike have been awaiting confirmation on what changes have been proposed, and what this will mean for individuals. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has said that “This government is delivering the biggest upgrade to rights at work for a generation, boosting pay and productivity with employment laws fit for a modern economy.”

We will be providing more detailed analysis of the changes as they make their way through parliament, but for now, here are the big-ticket items.

Day One Rights for Unfair Dismissal

Employees will have a day one right to bring unfair dismissal claims, removing the current two year service provision.

The government will consult on set statutory probation period, to allow for a proper assessment of the employees suitability, and is intended to work in tandem with the day one rights so that fair dismissals where the employee is not the right fit can still take effect. Currently the proposal is for a nine month statutory maximum, however this is facing criticism from trade unions so may be amended in the coming months.

Day One Family Rights

Employees will have a day one right to parental leave and paternity leave. The bill also includes amends to allow paternity leave to be taken following shared parental leave, rather than this right being lost by the taking of shared parental leave.

Bereavement Leave

Under the bill the right to parental bereavement leave will be renamed as ‘bereavement leave’ and the rights extended to all employees who suffer the bereavement of a person who satisfies the relationship conditions. For the bereavement of a person other than a child, qualifying employees will be entitled to one weeks’ unpaid leave. For the bereavement of a child, qualifying employees are still entitled to two weeks’ leave.

Alongside these changes, the government have pledged a full review of parental leave rights.

Sick Pay

Employees will be eligible for statutory sick pay from day one of sickness, rather than having to wait until day four for this to kick in. The lower earnings limit will also be removed entirely, making all employees eligible for this.

Flexible Working

The bill provides an amendment to the legislation for flexible working, proposed to make flexible working the default position where practical. The amendment still allows employers to reject applications for the same eight grounds, however under the new bill there is an additional requirement that this be “reasonable for the employer to refuse the application on that ground”, and the employer has to explain their decision and why they believe it is reasonable.

Equality and diversity plans

Large employers will be required to create and publish yearly equality action plans to address the gender pay gap, and to support employees through menopause.

Protections for pregnant women and new mothers are also to be strengthened, by the extension of the protected period to cover any dismissal, not just redundancy.

Zero Hours Contracts

There are a number of changes to try to stamp out exploitative zero hours contracts, including:

• The introduction of a requirement for an employer to make an offer for guaranteed working hours to qualifying workers
• the right to reasonable notice for a shift,
• the right to reasonable notice of cancellation of a shift,
• and the right to payment for shifts cancelled or moved at short notice.

Sexual Harassment

The bill proposes a significant amendment to the law protecting employees from sexual harassment, requiring employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment.

The bill also adds a definition in the list of potential qualifying disclosures (whistleblowing) that reporting that sexual harassment has occurred, is occurring or is likely to occur, may be a qualifying disclosure.

Fire and Rehire

The practice of “fire and rehire” will be banned in almost all cases, except where a business is at risk of complete financial collapse, or the employer “could not reasonably have avoided the need to make the variation”.

Redundancies

The bill also amends the legislation relating to collective redundancies, where the duty to consult will no longer be focused only on one establishment, and instead will be activated across the entire business.

Trade Union Rights

The bill also introduces some enhanced rights for trade unions, including:

• the right for employees to have a statement of their right to join a trade union;
• the right for trade unions to access workplaces under access agreements;
• amendments for the conditions for trade union recognition;
• and the provision for electronic balloting.

The bill also provides for a new protection against detriment on grounds of industrial action.

This proposed bill will now face scrutiny in parliament, and we are not expecting many of these changes to take effect quickly. In fact, it is suggested that many of the amendments could take years to be enacted. As always, we will be keeping on top of the changes and advising when employers need to take the next steps in preparation for these changes.