Did You Know?

A big change to employment rights is going through Parliament and it is possible you have missed it!

Ignorance of the law is rarely a defence in civil law! And can be expensive in economic terms, as well as bring reputational damage.

You will know that existing employment and equality laws allow individuals to make a tribunal claim for breach of contracts as well as unfair and discriminatory treatment.

This remains the position.

HOWEVER, and it is a big HOWEVER…….

The government have decided their Employment Rights Bill will not only set up a new Fair Work Agency but give it new powers not seen before in the UK.

They include:-

The ability to bring Employment Tribunal claims on behalf of
workers — even if they don’t want to claim themselves.
The power to offer legal assistance for employment cases, with
the Fair Work Agency's costs potentially recoverable from
employers if the claim succeeds.
The authority to pursue employers for unpaid holiday pay and sick
pay, and impose financial penalties on top which go straight to
the government.

These changes could fundamentally reshape employment litigation. Employers who previously relied on employee reluctance to claim may now find the Fair Work Agency stepping in instead.This is just the beginning. These amendments will pass into law—but how they will work in practice remains uncertain.

What is certain is that you should not only be fully aware of the full Employment Rights Bill but also the existing UK employment law framework including:-

Contracts
Rights and responsibilities of both parties
Hours of work
Wages and Taxation
Immigration Checks
Redundancies- changes coming here
TUPE- changes coming here
Safeguarding
Health, Safety and Welfare at Work
Data Protection- changes coming here
Family and medical leave
Wrongful dismissal
Discrimination

And under the category of discrimination, you should now be able to show full compliance with the Worker Protection Act (Preventative Duty on Sexual Harassment) implemented in October 2024. Any employer with more than 250 staff should be compliant of course with the Gender Pay Gap Reporting Regulations(2017) and be aware of the new proposals to look at similar reporting schemes for Disability and Race.

We have a growing suite of courses to bring you full details of existing laws and regulations as well as the latest breaking news profiled above. These include:-