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The Bill proposes changes to employment laws, including new dismissal rights and leave reforms.
Published on 19 December, 2024
The Government has published its much-anticipated Employment Rights Bill. The Bill, which encompasses 28 individual employment reforms, is set to be implemented by mid-2025 or 2026. However, the path to legislation may see significant alterations, with key reforms potentially diluted or subjected to further consultation. The Government's intent to introduce its own reforms into the Bill suggests a hurried compilation within the first 100 days.
The most contentious element is the introduction of 'day one' unfair dismissal rights. Currently, only employees with two years' service can bring employment tribunal claims for unfair dismissal, barring exceptional circumstances. The Employment Rights Bill proposes to eliminate this qualifying period. Accompanying this reform is the establishment of a statutory 'probationary period,' or 'initial period of employment,' which is speculated to involve a probationary dismissal procedure requiring minimum meetings before termination.
This specific reform is expected to strain an already burdened employment tribunal system, which is struggling with its current caseload.
Additional reforms address flexible working, bereavement leave, paternity leave, and unpaid parental leave. While these changes are unlikely to revolutionise the legal landscape, they tweak existing employment rights, necessitating employers to update their contracts to reflect new standards on dismissal, flexible working, and various time-off entitlements. Changes to zero hours contracts could include guaranteed hours and reasonable notice for work requirements and cancellations, though agency workers remain unaffected.
The Government also proposes to remove the three-day wait for statutory sick pay eligibility and eliminate the lower earnings limit as an eligibility criterion, marking one of the few reforms likely to be fast-tracked.
As the Employment Rights Bill progresses, businesses and employees alike will be watching closely to see if these proposed changes bring substantial improvements or simply scratch the surface of deeper issues within the employment sector.