Significant new employment laws are expected in 2024

The King’s Speech on 17^th July 2024 outlined 39 bills that the new Labour government want to pass in the next parliamentary session. Included in these is a new Employment Rights Bill which will dramatically change the employment landscape for the benefit of workers.

The government have promised to hit the ground running and introduce its new Employment Rights bill within 100 days of entering government, in its plan to ‘make work pay’ by delivering ‘the biggest upgrade to rights at work for a generation’.

Whilst the government has promised to consult with employers and unions before finalising the bill, here are some of the plans which are likely to be included.

Protection from unfair dismissal from day one

At the moment, in most cases an employee must have attained two years’ continuous service before they are able to claim damages for being ‘unfairly dismissed’ by their employer. The new bill will potentially provide this protection for employees on their first day in the job. What is not clear at this point is whether employees will be able to claim unfair dismissal if they are still within their probationary period.

Greater flexibility for those in work

The last government brought in changes earlier this year which has meant that the right to request flexible working has become a day-one right. The new government intend to go even further: they propose that flexible working should be the ‘genuine default’ position for all jobs except ‘where it is not reasonably feasible’.

Restrictions on the practice of ‘Fire and Rehire’

The new government plan to reform the law to safeguard against the practice of firing staff in order to immediately hire them on less favourable terms.

Removal of the current worker status

The new bill looks set to abolish the three-tier classification for employment status (which covers people who are not self-employed contractors but not employees) by giving ‘workers’ the same rights as ‘employees’.

Limited use of zero-hour contracts

The new government plan to ban zero-hour contracts and ensure that everyone has the right to have a contract that reflects the number of hours they regularly work based on a 12-week reference period. 

Expansion of parental rights

The bill is expected to expand on the current parental leave system so that it best supports working families. Included in the plan is the introduction of parental leave as a day one right.

Statutory Sick Pay to be paid from first day of absence

It’s expected that the government will remove the waiting period for claiming SSP so that staff will be entitled to SSP on the first day of their absence, and they plan to remove the lower earnings limit to make it available to all workers.  

Fair pay for all employees

There will be a single minimum wage band for all adults, so those aged between 18 and 21 will be entitled to the same minimum pay as those aged over 21.

Ethnic and disability pay gap reporting

Employers who are currently required to produce annual gender pay gap reports (those who employ 250+ employees) will be required to provide ethnicity and disability pay-gap reports too. 

New Single Enforcement Body

The government plan to set up a new enforcement body who will enforce workers’ rights and will be able to bring civil proceedings to uphold employment rights. While the detail on exactly how and when the plans will be implemented is still not certain, it’s clear that significant changes are on their way. Many businesses will want to act now to introduce policies and practical measures in anticipation of the new changes.

Larger employers (who currently or anticipate soon employing 250+ employees) may want to start monitoring the ethnicity and disabilities of staff in readiness for the change to pay gap reporting requirements (safeguards should be put in place when collecting this data and it should be made clear to staff that they do not have to provide this information if they would prefer not to).

Employers of all sizes may want to review the probationary periods in their contracts of employment and consider including a right to extend the probationary period if their contracts don’t currently allow for this, and they should make sure probationary periods are diarised carefully and managed appropriately. It would be a good idea too for any employers considering a significant restructure or redundancy exercise to consider bringing this forward in light of the proposed day one rights to claim unfair dismissal.

As soon as the detail and timescales for the changes are announced, we will be able to get you and your business ready for the new changes - making sure your HR policies are up to date, your employment contracts are legally compliant and ensuring that you are not exposing your business to an expensive claim.