Workers have been promised a major overhaul of workplace rights but concerns are emerging even before MPs have started debating the flagship legislation.
The Employment Rights Bill was included in the King's Speech, promising to "introduce a new deal for working people to ban exploitative practices and enhance employment rights".
It contains "welcome proposals" to strengthen statutory sick pay and parental leave, said People Management, but plans to remove the unfair dismissal qualifying period as part of new "day one" employment rights, will "arguably have the most wide-ranging impact".
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Currently, employees are protected against unfair dismissal after two years and may only qualify for certain benefits after a similar period.
The Labour government is proposing a "monumental shift in employment law", said legal firm Katten, by applying worker rights from the day they start their job. This means employers can only lawfully terminate someone's employment "after identifying a fair reason" such as poor performance or redundancy.
It is expected that employers will be able to include a probationary period, said Daniel Pollard in City A.M., but "it is not yet clear exactly how these will work". Another "big unanswered question" is if the rights will only apply to staff hired after the law passes.
There may be "unintended consequences", said law firm Lewis Silkin as employers could "play it safe" when recruiting or "defer any recruitment at all".
The legislation has a "family friendly" element, added People Management, by making parental leave a "day one right", rather than the current system of having to wait more than a year before becoming eligible. All employees would also be entitled to paid sick leave from their first day of absence, with no earnings requirement.
Staff will therefore feel "more comfortable" taking sick days, said MLP Law, "potentially leading to less long-term sick leave" but employers will face "increased direct costs and administration".
What about working from home?
Working from home has become popular since the pandemic and the employment bill will require employers to accommodate this "as far as possible", said the Financial Times.
It's a "cultural shift", said The Times, after the Conservative government's "emphasis was on getting people to return to offices". Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the Tories' "war on flexible working was bizarre". Flexible working won't work for everyone, he told the paper, but "good employers" understand that they need to "judge people on outcomes and not a culture of presenteeism" in order to keep their workforce "motivated and resilient".
When will the employment bill be introduced?
Labour promised to introduce the Employment Rights Bill within 100 days of taking office, said law firm Travis Smith, so it is "expected to be laid in parliament" by 12 October 2024.
But there are reported to be disagreements between Reynolds and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner on "how probation periods will work under the new system", said The Telegraph. Rayner is rumoured to be pushing for full-employment rights from day one after a "short probation period", but Reynolds is said to favour a shortened qualification period for full employment rights, but one requiring "a probation period of almost a year".
The challenge, added People Management, is supporting employers to improve their practices, "while avoiding some of the potential negative effects".
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Marc Shoffman is an NCTJ-qualified award-winning freelance journalist, specialising in business, property and personal finance. He has a BA in multimedia journalism from Bournemouth University and a master’s in financial journalism from City University, London. His career began at FT Business trade publication Financial Adviser, during the 2008 banking crash. In 2013, he moved to MailOnline’s personal finance section This is Money, where he covered topics ranging from mortgages and pensions to investments and even a bit of Bitcoin. Since going freelance in 2016, his work has appeared in MoneyWeek, The Times, The Mail on Sunday and on the i news site.
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