These were as follows;
- Holiday pay reference periods increased from 12 weeks to 52 weeks
- Right to Written Statement of Terms and Conditions of Employment as a day one right
- Agency workers are no longer excluded from the equality provisions of the Agency Workers Regulations 2010.
- Consultation rights, ICE Regulations threshold for requests reduced from 10% to 2%
Whilst we are yet to have a date for when the next changes come into effect, businesses can start to consider how the next measures, and other expected future developments in employment law, will impact them. The proposed legislation covers;
- Right to a more stable contract, with workers being able to request stable hours after 26 weeks of service
- Break in continuous service increasing from one week to four weeks (or possibly more) with the view of making it easier for employees to access employment rights
- Enforcement of statutory holiday pay, the government is proposing a state-led enforcement regime which no longer require an employee to take their employer to tribunal over underpaid holiday. This is likely to have similarities on how HMRC enforce the payment of the NMW.
- Ensuring tips left for workers go to them in full and no deductions from the tips are made, this will be particularly relevant for those operating in the hospitality sector.
- Pregnancy protection from redundancy – those on maternity, adoption or shared parental leave have the right to be offered a suitable alternative vacancy during a redundancy process. The government is proposing to extend this protection to pregnant employees as soon as they inform the employer of their pregnancy and to employees returning from maternity or adoption leave within the previous six months.
- Neonatal leave and pay – statutory leave and pay is expected in 2023 for parents of premature babies who need to be cared for in neonatal units. Further details are to be released in due course such as how it will interact with maternity and paternity leave and eligibility criteria.
For advice and guidance on any of the topics covered above please contact a member of the HR Consultancy team.