What Labour’s employment rights bill means for the construction industry

John Hayes is managing partner of the law firm Constantine Law, specializing in employment law and regulations

The Labor government’s Employment Rights Bill (ERB) was published, as promised, on October 10 within 100 days of Labor winning power. When completed, the ERB will bring about the biggest changes in the working world for more than a generation.

“Will agency workers and contractors face unfair dismissal, dismissal and other employment rights”

Employees get more rights. In the long term, temporary workers and contractors may also be given more rights. It will certainly cost the construction companies more. But how much more, and when?

The biggest changes for the construction sector are:

• ‘Day one’ rights in the event of unfair dismissal, but subject to consultation. There will likely be a shortening of the current qualification period from two years to nine months and a statutory probationary period (a dismissal procedure) from day one during which a “proportionate assessment of an employee’s suitability” must take place.
• The right to statutory sick pay, parental leave and bereavement leave from the first day.
• Zero-hour contracts are not prohibited, but employers must offer zero-hour workers a guaranteed hours contract after consultation after a reference period (probably twelve weeks).
• The right for all employees to request flexible working and any denials of such a request must be ‘reasonable’.
• More dismissal rights: abolition of the single “establishment test” for consultation on collective redundancies, meaning that any company that makes more than 20 employees redundant in the company as a whole must consult.
• The right for shift workers to be informed in advance of the details of their shifts.
• Increased rights for trade unions, including the right for all workers to be told that they have the right to join a trade union, and making it easier for trade unions to access workplaces
• Effective ban on ‘fire and rehire’ for employers, unless the employer is on the verge of bankruptcy.
• Increased duties to prevent sexual harassment and intimidation by third parties.
• All this will be enforced by a new Fair Work Agency.

The introduction of a number of new rights has been postponed. The government has published a ‘Next Steps’ document outlining further employment law reforms it plans to implement in the future, without committing to dates.

These include a move towards single worker status and a move to a simpler two-tier employment status framework; a ‘right to opt out’ which prevents employees from being contacted outside office hours unless in exceptional circumstances; a requirement for large employers (with more than 250 employees) to report their ethnicity and disability pay gaps; and revisions to parental and care leave systems.

Worker and employee status

There is no doubt that whatever the government decides on the possible alignment of the status of worker and employee will be the measure with the most impact on the construction sector. Will temporary and contract workers face unfair dismissal, dismissal and other employment rights (unless they are actually self-employed?). This huge potential change will now be subject to detailed consultation and the construction industry and industry lobby organizations must take responsibility. part.

Finally, what should we make of all this? Even with the introduction of the ERB, Britain will still have the best employment law in the world. It remains much easier to hire and fire in Britain than in all major European economies. Whether that will still be the case at the end of this Parliament remains to be seen.

For the time being, the changes promised in the ERB can more or less be absorbed by the construction companies. The truly impactful developments – the liberalization of corporate immigration rules and the postponed changes in employment status – still need to be fought for.