The King's Speech 2024
Andrew Weir • July 17, 2024
The inside track on the now likely changes in Employment Law...
The King’s Speech on the 17th July 2024 made passing reference to “legislation to ban exploitative practices and enhance employment rights”.
The supporting briefing notes tell us Labour are hitting the ground running with implementing Employment Law changes, with some or all of these changes almost certainly on the cards...
- Making parental leave, sick pay and protection from unfair dismissal available from day 1 (subject to special rules for probationary periods)
- Banning zero-hour contracts, making sure that workers have a right to a contract that reflects the hours they regularly work
- Ending ‘fire and rehire’ and ‘fire and replace’ by reforming the law and replacing the statutory code
- Removing the lower earnings limit and waiting period for Statutory Sick pay
- Making flexible working the default for all workers from day one and requiring employers to accommodate this as far as is reasonable
- Making it unlawful to dismiss a woman who has had a baby for six months after she comes back to work (with certain exceptions)
- Creating the Fair Work Agency to enforce workplace rights
- Introducing a Fair Pay Agreement in the adult social care sector
- Repealing the law on minimum service levels in relation to industrial action
- Simplifying the process of statutory recognition for trade unions
- Introducing a right for workers and union members to access a union within workplaces
The main point of all this is change in Employment Law is definitely going to happen.
As for what's changing and when, leave that to us, we'll keep you bang upto date!
For help on this or any other general HR advice, please give us a shout.
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