Employment Rights Bill

On Thursday 10 October the Government published its Employment Rights Bill. Whilst it feels as though this has been awaited for some time, what may not have been anticipated by many is the length of time it could take for the Bill to become legislation. Some reports have suggested that the new legislation might not actually be in force until October 2026.

In the meantime, the Bill confirms the following:

• The current qualifying period of two years will be removed. So, employees will no longer need to wait for two years before they are able to pursue a claim for unfair dismissal. There is also going to be a statutory probationary period for new hires. The length of this will be consulted on but the Government has confirmed its preference is 9 months.
•  The right to paternity and parental leave will be in place from day one of employment.
• Bereavement leave will be in place from day one of employment. This will be an extension of parental bereavement leave currently in place.
• Statutory sick pay will be paid from the first say of sickness, removing the three-day waiting period. The lower earnings limit will also be removed and SSP will be set as a percentage of pay.
• Use of “exploitative” zero-hour contracts will be banned. Employees will be able to be engaged under a zero hour contract if they prefer to, however, they will have the right to a guaranteed hours contract if they work regular hours over a defined period.
• Any dismissal will be automatically unfair if the principal reason for the dismissal is to enable the employer to recruit another person (or rehire the same individual) under new terms applicable to the same duties, or if the dismissal is because the employee refused to sign new terms sought by the employer.
• Employers will only be able to refuse a flexible working request if it is “reasonable” to do so. The employer will be required to state the ground for refusing a flexible working request and explain why it believes it is reasonable to refuse the request. The eight grounds for refusal, and the compensation for failing to comply with the statutory provision, will not be changing.
• Protections against dismissal for pregnant employees and those returning to the workplace from maternity leave will be strengthened.
• “Large” employers will be required to create action plans on gender inequality and supporting those going through the menopause.
• The duty to prevent sexual harassment comes into force on 26 October this year and is updated further by the Employment Rights Bill. Under the new proposals, employers will be placed under an obligation to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. Employers will also have to take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment by third parties.
• Disclosures about sexual harassment will be protected.
• Currently, the obligation to collectively consult in a redundancy process is triggered where 20 or more employees are at risk at one establishment in the business. So, where less than 20 employees at one site are at risk, an employer does not need to collectively consult. The Employment Rights Bill amends this so that where 20 or more employees across the whole business are at risk, collective consultation will be required.

There are some elements of the Government’s manifesto that have not been included in the Bill such as the right to switch off, extending pay gap reporting to include ethnicity and disability and consultation on a single “worker” status.

The Bill is of course the start of the process for the proposals to become law. The Bill will now need to be consulted on and amendments will no doubt be made to the drafting.

We will be posting any updates when they are announced.