Five key questions for the labor rights bill

Labor law experts suggest the government is likely to release the draft Employment Rights Bill on October 10, fulfilling its promise to introduce legislation (at least in draft form) within 100 days of arriving in office. power.

Many of the likely elements of the bill have already been flagged, having first appeared as commitments in Labour’s election manifesto in its Make Work Pay Plan or its New Deal for Workers.

Broadly speaking, the bill aims to address issues such as job insecurity, low wages, day one rights and worker exploitation. But a number of questions remain over the exact details of the legislation, which will need to be subject to consultations and parliamentary votes before coming into force.

We asked HR five key questions about the Employment Rights Bill:

What does “probation” mean for rights from day one?

When the Employment Rights Bill was announced in the King’s Speech in July, it was confirmed that employees would have a right to unfair dismissal from day one, “subject to a period of essay “.

Since the introduction of the Unfair Dismissal Act in 1971, the probationary period has fluctuated between six months and currently two years, but there has never been any law regarding the length of a probationary period.

In the briefing paper which accompanied the king’s speech, the government said that “we will continue to ensure that employers can arrange trial periods to assess new hires”, but it did not specify the duration of this trial period.

“Several” Whitehall sources told the Financial Times last month that Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds had agreed a maximum probationary period of six months, but the exact relationship with the right from day one to claim unfair dismissal remains to be determined. seen.

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When is a zero hours contract “exploitative”?

Labor’s manifesto pledges to end what it calls “unilateral flexibility”. It aims to provide more security to workers in precarious positions or zero-hours contracts. Employment Rights Bill should include a ban on ‘exploitative’ zero-hours contracts, a right to a contract that reflects the number of hours worked regularly and a requirement to give adequate notice of changes or team cancellation.

However, there are still few details on how the law will define exploitation. This could be problematic for employers in seasonal sectors such as hospitality, where demand can mean short-term shift changes or a sudden change in who is needed. IPSE, an organization for self-employed workers, says zero-hours contracts can provide “vital flexibility” for some workers who want to get around their care or childcare responsibilities.

“Ultimately, whether zero-hours contracts can be classified as exploitative depends on whether the worker has the power to choose when to work,” it says. Banning them completely would not eliminate the unscrupulous labor practices of crooked employers, he adds.

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Will there be a “right to disconnect”?

Labor first proposed the adoption of a “right to disconnect” – whereby employees have the right not to respond to communications from their employer outside of contracted office hours – in a Green Paper 2021. Its election manifesto this year made clear that any right to disconnect would likely follow similar models to those in Ireland or Belgium. These state that workers cannot be penalized or disadvantaged if they refuse to work outside their normal hours.

A number of countries have already introduced such legislation, most recently Australia, which provides for fines for employers who break the rule. Even if such a right did not appear in the “shopping list” of reforms set out in the King’s speech, it could appear in the next bill and in subsequent consultations. The government has not clarified whether the Employment Rights Bill would include pure statutory restrictions or a code of practice, as in Ireland.

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How will the changes to sick pay work?

One of the new government’s main promises is to “strengthen statutory sick pay” by removing the salary cap and abolishing the three-day waiting period before employees can receive it.

Although workers will welcome the removal of the lower salary cap – which the TUC says means 1.3 million people will miss out on SSP – there is no indication so far whether the legislation would increase the current rate , which is £116.75 per week. This only represents 18% of the average weekly wage, points out the TUC.

If, under the Employment Rights Bill, employees no longer need to wait for SAP to begin, they could be more likely to take short-term sick leave, some say, while others suggest it could encourage employers to take a more proactive approach to management. absence.

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What will happen to employment status?

Seven years after being recommended by Matthew Taylor in his review of modern employment practices, the Labor government has promised to reform the complex area of ​​employment status.

Currently, there are three levels of workers for labor law purposes (employees, workers and self-employed) and two tax levels (employees and self-employed). In recent years, high-profile court cases have determined whether a person is truly employed and therefore eligible for labor rights such as paid vacation and minimum wage.

In its manifesto, Labor said it would “move to a simpler two-part framework for employment status” and would carry out detailed consultations on a simpler framework that would “differentiate between workers and truly self-employed workers.

It also said it would review how worker status is communicated and understood within the workforce, so individuals know where they stand in terms of rights and commitments. No consultation is currently underway, so it remains to be seen how this will work in practice.

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Personnel Today will examine the contents and implications of the Employment Rights Bill once it is tabled in Parliament.

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