Legal News | 16.10.24

Employment Rights Bill 2024

On 10 October 2024 the government introduced the Employment Rights Bill 2024 (the Bill) into Parliament. The intention of the Bill is to implement its plan to Make Work Pay.

This article explores a snapshot of the 28 individual employment reforms. The second reading of the Bill is due to take place on 21 October 2024. The majority of the proposed reforms do not contain detailed provisions within the Bill but provide ministers with the power to introduce regulations.

1. Day One Rights

• The Bill removes the current two-year qualifying period for unfair dismissal. It outlines a power for ministers to introduce regulations for dismissal during “an initial period of employment” i.e. probation period.
• The Bill removes the qualifying periods for unpaid parental leave and statutory paternity leave.
• The Bill eliminates the three-day waiting period and lower earnings threshold for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP).

2. Dismissal during the “Protected Period”

• The Bill will enable ministers to introduce regulations to protect pregnant women and new mothers who are dismissed during or after the “protected period” of pregnancy for reasons other than redundancy. Currently, such protections only exist for women who are made redundant.
• Similarly to the protected period for pregnancy, the Bill allows ministers to introduce regulations for the protected period relating to adoption and shared parental leave.

3. Bereavement Leave

• The Bill extends the existing right of parental bereavement leave to a more general bereavement leave. The exact details are to be contained in regulations.
• The regulations will also set out the period of leave is to be at least one week.

4. Right to Request Flexible Working

• The commitment to make flexible working the default from day-one for all workers is not reflected within the current drafting of the Bill.
• The Bill only changes the requirement for the employer to apply “reasonableness” to their reason for refusing the request. The employer will need to state the reason for refusing the request and why it has decided its reasoning is reasonable.

5. Prevention of sexual harassment:

• Please see our previous Articles “The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill” and “Employment Law Update 2024”
• The duty of employers is to take “reasonable” steps to prevent sexual harassment, this will be replaced with the stronger requirement to take “all reasonable steps” for such prevention. This reflects the original formulation, before it was watered down by parliamentary debate.
• Sexual harassment will also be included to the group of “protected disclosures” within the whistleblowing framework.
• The Bill introduces the ability for ministers to outline what amounts to “reasonable steps”, which are currently set out in guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

6. Preventing harassment by third parties

• The Bill reintroduces employer liability for harassment by third parties.
• The Bill introduces the ability for ministers to outline what amounts to “reasonable steps”, which are currently set out in guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

7. Zero Hour Contracts

• The Bill introduces the requirement for employers to offer workers guaranteed hours, with reference to the average hours worked over a particular period.
• The Bill further introduces the requirement for workers to receive reasonable notice of a shift, changes to a shift, or its cancellation. The worker is then to be compensated for any curtailed, cancelled or moved shifts.

8. Collective Redundancy

• The Bill removes the criterion of “one establishment” from the collective redundancy consultation trigger under section 188 Trade Union and Labour Relations Consolidation Act 1992.
• The Bill also requires specific government notification in relation to redundancies affecting ships’ crew.

9. Equality Action Plans

• The Bill allows ministers to introduce regulations to ensure that large employers (over 250 or more employees) develop and publish an “equality action plan”; this will demonstrate the steps they have taken to promote gender equality. This plan must report on the gender pay gap and how employees are supported through the menopause.
• Regulations may also extend the pay gap reporting to contract workers and not just employees.

10. Fire and Rehire

• The Bill provides a new ground of automatic unfair dismissal, where the sole or principal reason for the dismissal is the employer sought to vary terms of employment and the employee refused to agree to a variation of their employment terms.

11. Single Enforcement Body

• The Bill promises a plan for a single enforcement agency (the Fair Work Agency), which will be responsible for enforcing issues surrounding modern slavery, holiday pay, statutory sick pay, national minimum wage and Employment Tribunal penalties.

12. Trade Unions

• The Bill ushers in a vast overhaul of the legislation and guidance surrounding trade union membership; in addition to the simplification of the processes for trade union recognition, employees can expect to see the implementation of the rights of trade unions to access workplaces, the repeal of minimum service level requirements, and the necessity for employers to issue each of their workers with a statement confirming their right to trade union membership.

13. Gratuities

• Please see our previous Article “Tips, Service Charges and Gratuities” for the change in law which took effect on 1 October 2024.
• The Bill requires employers to consult with recognised trade unions in respect of their tipping policy.

14. Public sector outsourcing: protection of workers:

• The Bill will operate to provide additional protection to workers involved in procurement and the outsourcing of contracts, to ensure they are treated no less favourably than workers of the contracting authorities.

15. Adult Social Care Negotiating Body

• The Bill introduces the requirement to establish an Adult Social Care Negotiating Body; this Body will be tasked with achieving a Fair Pay Agreement for those employed in the Social Care sector.

While the vast changes contained within the Bill may seem a lot for employers and employees alike to grapple with, the government have made it clear that it may be autumn 2026 before the first of these changes come into effect. We will be continuing to review the progress of the Bill and providing updates.

The above is a summary of the Bill and should not be relied upon as legal advice.

If you would like more specific advice about the Bill, or if you have any other queries, then please contact:  01380 733300 | commercial@wansbroughs.com