Employment Bill to usher in major reforms to employment rights: Protections for Workers

Introduction: enhancing protections for workers

The Government has unveiled its long-expected Employment Rights Bill, which will usher in greater protections for workers.

Key changes in employment rights

The existing two-year qualifying period for protection from unfair dismissal will be removed to ensure that all workers are protected from day one on the job.

The Government will also consult on a new statutory probation period for companies’ new hires. This will allow for a proper assessment of an employee’s suitability to a role as well as reassuring employees that they have rights from day one, enabling businesses to take chances on hires while giving more people confidence to re-enter the job market or change careers, improving their living standards.

Comprehensive reforms: strengthening protections for workers

The bill will bring forward 28 individual employment reforms, from ending exploitative zero hours contracts and fire and rehire practices to establishing day one rights for paternity, parental, and bereavement leave for millions of workers.

Statutory sick pay will also be strengthened, removing the lower earnings limit for all workers and cutting out the waiting period before sick pay kicks in.

Accompanying this will be measures to help make the workplace more compatible with people’s lives, with flexible working made the default where practical.

Gender equality and support for families

Large employers will also be required to create action plans on addressing gender pay gaps and supporting employees through the menopause, and protections against dismissal will be strengthened for pregnant women and new mothers.

Establishment of a Fair Work Agency: enforcing protections for workers

A new Fair Work Agency bringing together existing enforcement bodies will also be established to enforce rights such as holiday pay and support employers looking for guidance on how to comply with the law.

Government’s commitment

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “The best employers know that employees are more productive when they are happy at work. That is why it’s vital to give employers the flexibility they need to grow whilst ending unscrupulous and unfair practices.

“This upgrade to our laws will ensure they are fit for modern life, raise living standards, and provide opportunity and security for businesses, workers, and communities across the country.”

Next steps for enhancing protections for workers

Alongside the legislation, a ‘Next Steps’ document for the Make Work Pay Plan has been published outlining the Government’s vision and long-term plans and setting out its ambitions for the plan to grow the economy, raise living standards across the country, and create opportunities for all.

Additional measures

In other areas, the Government says it will:

• Change the law to make flexible working the default for all, unless the employer can prove it’s unreasonable.
• Set a clear standard for employers by establishing a new right to bereavement leave, with the entitlement sculpted with the needs of employees and the concerns of employers at the forefront.
• Deliver stronger protections for pregnant women and new mothers returning to work, including protection from dismissal whilst pregnant, on maternity leave, and within six months of returning to work.
• Tackle low pay by accounting for the cost of living when setting the Minimum Wage and removing discriminatory age bands.
• Establish a new Fair Work Agency that will bring together different Government enforcement bodies, enforce holiday pay for the first time, and strengthen statutory sick pay. It will create a stronger, recognisable single organisation that people know where to go for help – with better support for employers who want to comply with the law and tough action on the minority who deliberately flout it.
• Establish a Right to Switch Off, preventing employees from being contacted out of hours, except in exceptional circumstances, to allow them the rest and get the recuperation they need to give 100% during their shift.
• Make a strong commitment to end pay discrimination by expanding the Equality (Race and Disparity) Bill to make it mandatory for large employers to report their ethnicity and disability pay gap.
• Move towards a single status of worker and transition towards a simpler two-part framework for employment status.

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