The employment rights bill was published today
Shown below is a summary produced by employment law barrister Daniel Barnett looking at the principal clauses affecting the relationship between employees and employers. There are other clauses which affect the relationship between employers and trade unions. It is unclear when these provisions will come into effect as some will require further negotiations between employers, trade unions and the government on the fine detail especially around the areas of length of time before an unfair dismissal claim can be brought and the implications of zero hours contracts .
However it is clear that every employment contract will need to be amended to comply with new conditions, most policies will require revision and mangers and supervisors will require training to handle the new situation.
Here are some of the key provisions for individual employment rights
Loads of seriously complicated zero hours stuff. Guaranteed hours provision (cl 1), right to reasonable notice of shift (cl 2) and payment for cancellation of shifts at short notice (cl 3)
- Flexible working – refusal has to be reasonable, from a list of specified grounds for refusal (similar to previous grounds – but the reasonableness requirement is new) (cl 7); plus a requirement for the employer to explain why their refusal is reasonable in writing to the employee (cl 7). But no change to the penalty for breach (8 weeks’ pay), so a bit of a damp squib.
- SSP from day 1 (cl 8) currently £116.75 per week
- ‘Parental’ removed from bereavement leave, so anyone is entitled (cl14)
- Full liability for third party harassment (cl16) <– THIS IS A BIGGIE especially for the hospitality sector where staff are often subject harassment by customers
- Protected disclosures – allegations of sexual harassment will be covered (cl 18)
- Unfair dismissal – removal of qualifying period (cl19), but limited to those who have already started work (Schedule 2)(there is a discussion not yet clarified of instituting a 9 month probation period during which time subject to conditions an employee will not be able to bring an unfair dismissal claim. Today employees can bring a discrimination or whistleblowing claim from day one this is unchanged)
- Fire and Re-hire – automatically unfair to dismiss an employee for refusing a contract variation. Very limited exception for genuine need to avoid serious financial issues that may threaten the business, and necessary to have gone through a lot of consultation first (cl 22) <– ANOTHER BIGGIE
- Collective redundancy consultation – totting up to see whether 20 employees are affected is now across the whole business than just at one establishment (cl 23)
- Provisions for introducing sector wide collective bargaining for school support staff and adult social care workers (cl 28-44)
- s1 statement of an employment contract – must include statements of union rights (cl 45)
We don’t know the commencement date yet (although according to the BBC this morning, it is rumoured to be October 2026,).