This month our blog provides a summary of some of the changes being proposed under the Employment Rights Bill, which is currently making its way through parliament.
Trade Union rights – various new rights including a new duty on employers to inform workers of their right to join a trade union and require employers to:
• include information about the right to join a trade union in a written statement
• regularly inform workers of their right to join a trade union
Unfair dismissal - will remove the two-year unfair dismissal qualifying period and replace it with a new statutory probationary period, referred to as the ‘initial period of employment’ which is likely to be nine months.
Sick Pay - remove the waiting period so Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is paid from day one of sickness absence (rather than day four)
Introduce a new rate for Statutory Sick Pay for low earners, including all those earning below the Lower Earnings Limit (£125 per week £542 per month £6,500 per year).
Fire and Rehire Restrictions - where employees are dismissed for failing to agree to a variation in their terms of employment. Those dismissals will be treated as automatically unfair. There will be a narrow exception if the employer can show evidence of financial difficulties that would mean the business could not carry on without varying the contractual terms.
