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08-February-2007
The changing face of UK employment law
The UK’s SMEs know all too well that the legislative landscape changes often – and frequently in significant ways that have a real impact upon how they do business.
Employment law is arguably one of the most difficult areas to keep track of – and getting things wrong can be costly and time-consuming. Few SMEs have the time or resources to dedicate to the endless exercise of monitoring changes and implementing practical solutions.
One effort that has been made to minimise the burden on smaller employers is to try and limit the introduction of new employment legislation to twice yearly – in October and April. Unfortunately these efforts do not seem to have reduced the overall amount of new law that comes into force.
October 2006 therefore saw a number of substantial changes in UK employment law. Some of those (the age discrimination legislation) was much-publicised. Other wide-ranging changes have also been enacted though and regrettably these have received far fewer press inches.
Maternity-related rights
Under the Work and Families Act 2006, women whose expected week of childbirth (EWC) (or date of adoption) falls on or after 1 April 2007) will benefit from a more generous statutory maternity regime, whereby:
Certain of the changes should benefit employers, for example:
On the other hand, small employers need to take note because the small employers' exemption has been removed. Previously, employers with five or fewer employees were exempted from a finding of automatic unfair dismissal where they did not allow an employee returning from additional maternity leave or additional adoption leave to return to the same or a similar job. That exemption is to cease going forward.
Flexible working for carers, not just parents
Another “family-friendly” right is being expanded upon with effect from 6 April 2007.
Most employers are familiar with the statutory right to request flexible working of employees with children under the age of 6 (or, in the case of a disabled child, under 18). Going forward, employees will be able to request flexible working under the statutory procedure where they care or expect to be caring for an adult who:
The 'near relative' definition includes parents, parent-in-law, adult children, adopted adult children, siblings (including those who are in-laws), uncles, aunts or grandparents and step-relatives. It is estimated that 1.5 million carers will be able to take advantage of this new right.
Statutory procedures
One important development likely to be of some interest to employers is the decision of the Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling to launch a review into the operation of the employment dispute resolution procedures.
The statutory grievance, disciplinary and dismissal procedures have been the bane of the life of employers (and employment lawyers!) since their introduction in 2004. Originally intended to reduce the number of claims that end up at the Employment Tribunal by promoting internal resolution of issues, all the procedures have done in practice is to create an additional layer of regulation for lawyers to argue over, at ever-increasing cost to employers.
Michael Gibbons has been handed the unenviable task of weighing the respective stakeholders’ interests and making recommendations as to the best way forward; his report should be available in Spring 2007 (but there is no indication as to when, if at all, his suggestions will be actioned). One possible outcome of the review is the scrapping altogether of the statutory grievance procedures but whatever the scale of the government’s u-turn on these regulations, Leeds Chamber will keep you posted so watch this space…
ENDS
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