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20
LEGAL VIEW
IN ASSOCIATION WITH:
CHANGES IN THE WORKS
by Ged Henderson
There will be no Brexit bonfire of UK employment laws. The matches have been put back in the box, for the time being at least.
The government has massively watered down its ambitions for replacing or removing thousands of EU laws and the December timetable it imposed.
The U-turn will mean only several hundred laws, publicly announced by the government ahead of time, will now be subject to the so-called ‘sunset clause’ which would have automatically deleted every EU law which hadn’t already been reviewed.
Announcing the decision, the government said the new approach would allow it to more properly target areas in need of reform and also ensure no unintentional removing of safety regulations. However, it doesn’t mean business as usual when it comes to employment law.
and it remains a watching and waiting game for all employers.
She says: “There is much hype around impending changes to employment law. In reality, although there are changes coming, only a few changes are certain, the rest are still not confirmed.”
The government’s policy paper ‘Smarter Regulation to Grow the Economy’ which it published in May, sets out the direction of travel with changes to three elements of employment law.
First up is Working Time Regulations, where the proposal is to remove retained EU case law requiring businesses to keep records of working hours for their staff.
Stuart Wright, consultant at Burnley based Cube HR, says: “It is estimated in the policy paper that this will save businesses overall £1bn per year.
“In reality I suspect that many businesses don’t currently keep these records anyway and those who do are in sectors which are heavily regulated and will still require accurate record keeping going forward, so for many it will simply be a case of business as usual regardless of the change.”
Alison Driver
Change is on its way which will impact businesses in Lancashire.
Surveying the landscape, Alison Driver, managing director of Rawtenstall based Metis HR, says there is still “much uncertainty”
Another change to the regulations will see the introduction of ‘rolled up’ holiday pay in a bid to make dealing with the issue more straightforward. It’s a move that Stuart believes will be welcomed. He says: “For businesses with casual workers, workers on zero hours contracts and workers with irregular hours this will be beneficial.
“It will take away some of the current pain points around complicated calculations
and ensure that workers receive what they are entitled to.”
There is also a proposal to change Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations (TUPE) which relates to consultation with employees.
As the law currently stands, businesses cannot consult directly with employees if employee representatives are not in place. The government is looking to consult on removing that requirement in cases where businesses employ fewer than 50 people or in TUPE transfers where fewer than 10 employees are affected.
Such a removal would enable the incoming employer to consult directly with affected employees.
Stuart says: “This proposal makes sense and removes a hurdle from an already complex area of employment law making it a slicker process for all concerned while still maintaining the obligation to consult and protect employee rights.”
The government has also set out its belief that non-compete clauses in employment contracts are at times, “unnecessarily burdensome” for employees, and, “limit the ability of businesses to compete and innovate.”
The intention is to put in place legislation which will limit any clauses to a maximum of three months. The government believes that will introduce a greater degree of flexibility, potentially allowing people to take a more lucrative job as well as enabling employers to recruit new talent more easily.
These aren’t the only pieces of employment law which are likely to change in the next 12 months
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