The King’s Speech on 17 July saw the new UK government reaffirm its commitment to introduce new employment legislation in Parliament within its first 100 days in office. The government plans to do this with a new Employment Rights Bill, that is intended to deliver on the wide range of policies set out in its ‘Plan to Make Work Pay’, published shortly before the general election.
Among other things, the bill will make unfair dismissal a day one right for all workers, ban zero-hour contracts and for all workers to get reasonable notice of any shift changes with proportionate compensation for any shifts cancelled or curtailed, and strengthen statutory sick pay by removing the lower earnings limit and waiting period to make it available to all workers from day one.
The bill will also make flexible working the default for all workers from day one, with employers required to accommodate this as far as is reasonable, and strengthen protections for new mothers by making it unlawful to dismiss a woman who has had a baby for six months after her return to work, except in specific circumstances.
The government has committed to consult fully with businesses, workers and civil society on how to put its employment law reform plans into practice before any legislation is passed. That process will be critical to ensuring that it avoids any unintended consequences in the implementation of its proposals and achieves its primary mission of promoting economic growth.
The bill will also need to go through the usual legislative process in both houses of Parliament before becoming law, a process that typically takes several months. In the meantime, employers should start to assess how their businesses could be impacted.
In addition, the government has committed to linking the national living wage to the cost of living and removing the lower rate currently applicable to younger workers. It believes that this will deliver a genuine living wage that every adult worker will benefit from in future. These changes can be made within the framework of existing legislation and so could potentially happen sooner than the other proposed changes.
The government has also introduced a draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill intended to tackle inequality for ethnic minority and disabled people by enshrining in law the full right to equal pay for ethnic minorities and disabled people, making it easier for them to bring unequal pay claims, and introducing mandatory ethnicity and disability pay reporting for larger employers, with more than 250 employees.
Paul McGrath is a partner at McDermott Will and Emery UK
