| As the Employment Rights Bill has made its way through the Parliamentary stages, there have been a few amendments and clarifications. Most are quite complex and cover areas that most of our clients do not currently need to concern themselves with (such as rules around industrial action taken by trade unions). The ones that I think are of most interest are:
1. Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)
The lower earnings threshold for the right to SSP (currently £125 per week) is to be removed, with lower earners being entitled to a lower level of SSP. This has now been confirmed as 80% of the workers’ normal weekly pay.
2. Guaranteed hours for zero hours contract workers
We previously reported that there will be a new obligation on employers to offer guaranteed hours contracts to those on zero hours, or a low number of guaranteed hours, where they regularly work more hours than guaranteed in their contracts. This is to be extended to include agency workers.
However, it appears that there will a provision to allow employers to contract out of this requirement using a collective agreement. But that only applies where there is a trade union recognised by the employer, so most SMEs will not be able to contract out from this new right.
We are still quite a long way from the Bill passing into law, and there is still detail required about many of its contents – including details about probationary periods that will become so important when the 2 year service requirement for unfair dismissal claims is removed.
We will keep you updated as and when dates and details are firmed up. |
