11.1. The Employment Rights Bill abolishes the practice of “fire and rehire”. It will become an automatically unfair reason to dismiss an employee if the reason is:
11.1.1. the employer sought to vary the employee’s contract of employment and the employee did not agree to the variation; or
11.1.2. the employer dismisses the employee in order to employ someone else or to re-engage the employee under a varied contract of employment on substantially the same duties as before.
11.2. There will be exceptions, including where:
11.2.1. the proposed contractual variation removes or significantly reduces any financial difficulties of the employer; or
11.2.2. the employer could not reasonably have avoided the need to make the variation.
11.3. It is going to be extremely difficult for employers to force through any changes to terms and conditions where the employees will not agree to them. It is only going to be possible in extreme circumstances where the employer is at risk of collapse. It is unclear when these changes will come into force but it is unlikely to be before 2026.
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