Employment Law Digest August – Case Law Update
Redundancy – selection pools and meaningful consultation In Valimulla v Al-Khair Foundation: Mr Valimulla was a liaison officer, based in…
Here we break down the manifesto pledges made by the now elected Labour Government and the key changes that are incoming in relation to employment law.
On 18th July, we hosted a webinar summarising the Government’s plans for employment law. You can watch a recording of the webinar here.
Should you have any questions in the meantime, please do contact a member of the Employment team.
The Government has confirmed that the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 will come into force on 26 October 2024. The Act, which progressed through Parliament and received Royal Assent during the Conservative Government, will introduce a duty for employers to take positive steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.
The Act will require employers to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment. Such steps could include having a clear and up-to-date policy on sexual harassment, providing mandatory training for all staff, having appropriate reporting methods in place, ensuring that that there is a thorough and independent investigation into any allegations of sexual harassment, and having workplace champions to provide support to those who experience or witness sexual harassment.
In its manifesto Labour pledged to amend the duty for employers to take ‘all reasonable steps’ to stop sexual harassment before it starts, which will be more onerous for employers. The impact of this could be that if an employee brings a claim for sexual harassment, and the employer was found to have taken reasonable steps (but not all reasonable steps) the employee’s claim could be successful. This change will not take place prior to the commencement of the Act, but may be introduced in the future as part of the Government’s plans to make a suite of changes to employment law.
Employers will need to take steps ahead of the commencement date to ensure that they do not fall foul of this duty. Our Employment team will shortly be publishing a toolkit (and hosting a webinar) to assist employers with their new duty to prevent sexual harassment, so stay tuned for further updates.
The Department for Business and Trade has confirmed that the Government will not bring into force the Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023. The Bill, which received Royal Assent in September 2023, was expected to come into force this month and would have provided workers with the right to request a predictable working pattern.
Instead, a spokesperson for the Department has said: “We will introduce a new right to a contract that reflects the number of hours regularly worked as part of our significant and ambitious agenda to ensure workplace rights are fit for a modern economy, empower working people and deliver economic growth.”
It seems that on this decision is in line with Labour’s plans to end one-sided flexibility and provide workers with more accurate contracts which are reflective of their actual working pattern. Instead of having various pieces of legislation, it follows that the Government would rather the issue be dealt with in one sweep and thus it will likely form part of the upcoming Employment Rights Bill. It is expected that the forthcoming legislation will confer stronger rights than the scrapped Act will have introduced.
Labour pledge to introduce legislation within the first 100 days of entering government, which would mean by 12 October 2024.
There is the well-established policy of only implementing employment law changes in October and April rather than spread across the year and so if Labour do keep to this precedent it will likely mean we won’t see changes until next Spring. Additionally, many changes may require codes of practice or substantial secondary legislation before being enacted and this means many more months of drafting and consultation.
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Redundancy – selection pools and meaningful consultation In Valimulla v Al-Khair Foundation: Mr Valimulla was a liaison officer, based in…
This introduces a new duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent their workers from being sexually harassed…
In the ever-changing landscape of UK employment law, the Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act (the “Act”) is a…
With a focus on protecting workers’ rights and promoting fair treatment in the workplace, the Labour Government has outlined…
Consideration of redeployment in ill-health dismissal In Budgen v Royal Mail Group Ltd: The Claimant, an operational postal worker, was…
From making a note of difficult conversations to recording and tracking absence the impact of effective record keeping can’t…
It has been around a decade since the European Court of Justice decided that the Working Time Regulations 1998…
The MAC’s report last month returned positive findings despite ministers’ concerns that the Graduate route was…
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