Author: Duane Morris

There has been much talk of flexibility in the workplace as employers continue to adapt to changes in working patterns arising from the pandemic and prepare to deal with amendments to flexible working requests set out in the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023, due to come into effect in spring 2024.

Whilst for many employers and employees there is a reciprocity in the benefits of flexible working patterns, there are some groups of workers for whom the flexibility may be one-sided. The concerns of “one-sided flexibility” were raised in the Good Work Plan and addressed by the Low Pay Commission, who set out their proposals in response to these concerns.

Many agency workers, short-term/fixed-term workers and workers on zero-hours contracts experience one-sided flexibility and uncertainty in their working patterns. On 18 September 2023, the Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 was passed to address the issue of one-sided flexibility and seeks to provide these groups of workers greater certainty and predictability in respect of their working patterns.

Continue reading “Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023”

World Menopause Day was held on 18 October 2023. The purpose of the day was “to raise awareness of menopause and the support options available for improving health and well-being.”

It is estimated that 51% of the population will experience menopause, and pre-pandemic research undertaken by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) showed that women over 50 were the fastest-growing group in the workforce. These statistics highlight the continued importance of offering support and raising awareness of menopause in the workplace.

Menopause as a Protected Characteristic

The Equality Act 2010 lists nine “protected characteristics” on which discrimination claims can be based. Those characteristics are age, gender reassignment, marital status, pregnancy/maternity, disability, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

In July 2022, the Women and Equalities Committee House of Commons published their committee report “Menopause and the Workplace.” In this report, it was recommended that menopause should be made a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010. Whilst there was public support for this proposal, the government confirmed in January 2023 that they would not be making menopause a protected characteristic given their concerns that to do so would have unintended consequences and might inadvertently create new forms of discrimination.

Continue reading “World Menopause Day and Protected Disability Status”

On 4 October 2023, the UK Supreme Court delivered its enthusiastically awaited judgment in the case Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland and another (Appellants/Cross-Respondents) v Agnew and others (Respondents/Cross-Appellants) (Northern Ireland), confirming that employees can make historic claims of underpayment of holiday pay even if there are gaps of more than three months between deductions.

The case examined historic underpayments of holiday pay to police officers and civilian staff working for the police in Northern Ireland, arising from calculations based on basic pay without consideration of payments made for overtime that was regularly worked.

The officers and staff brought claims for underpayment of holiday pay after having historically received basic pay only during periods of annual leave. The parties agreed that there had in fact been an underpayment, and that holiday pay should have been calculated to include overtime pay for periods of compulsory overtime. The critical issue before the Supreme Court in this case was how far back the claimants were entitled to go with their claims.

Continue reading “At Last – Supreme Court Decision on Historic Underpayment of Holiday Pay”

An interesting article in the (London) Times last week revealed that workplace absences in Britain are at their highest in a decade.

Over the past year, British employees are reported to have been absent for an average of 7.8 days, two entire days more than the rate before the pandemic of 5.8 days.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the professional body for the human resources sector, and the healthcare company Simplyhealth are reported as calling on employers to have an open and supportive culture on health issues and give staff access to flexible working options and health services.

Continue reading “British Staff Absence Rate – Up to a Decade High”

Hard on the heels of the current government’s efforts to bring in new family-friendly employment laws – which include the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023, the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023, the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023 and the Carers Leave Act 2023, along with the Miscarriage Leave Bill and the Fertility Treatment (Employment Rights) Bill – The Times reported on 13 September a very interesting perspective on possible Labour government employment policy.

Angela Rayner, speaking from the TUC conference in Liverpool on 12 September, gave a “cast iron” guarantee that a Labour government would bring forward legislation to improve workers’ rights within 100 days of winning the next election. The proposed legislation would include Day 1 basic rights, a ban on zero-hour contracts, and an end to fire and rehire.

In a nod to the Jeremy Corbyn-era Labour manifesto on employment legislation, she pledged to introduce a new form of collective bargaining that would allow trade unions to negotiate pay and conditions across entire sectors of the economy such as social care.

The proposed legislation would also repeal some existing union laws, including the requirement that more than 50% of a workforce needs to vote for strike action.

Continue reading “Perspective on Employment Law Under a Labour Government”

With public services seeking to catch up on waiting lists, it seemed timely to provide an update regarding the ongoing backlog of employment tribunal cases.

A statistical data set published on 13 February 2023 by the HM Courts & Tribunals Service reported that there are more than 50,000 live cases awaiting a hearing or decision. This figure is a 7% increase from the December 2021 figure of 47,041.

For context, it was reported in 2019 that the number of outstanding employment tribunal cases had reached 23,700, which, at the time, was the highest level recorded since the abolition of tribunal fees in 2017.

Continue reading “Avoid Getting Stuck in Employment Tribunal Backlog by Resolving Cases Early”

The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill, Carer’s Leave Bill and Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill received royal assent on 24 May 2023.

The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act

This act will create a day-one right to enable parents to take a period of up to 12 weeks’ paid neonatal care leave if their baby is required to spend time in neonatal care. This period of neonatal leave will be in addition to maternity, paternity or shared parental leave.

Neonatal care leave will be available to employees in the event their child aged no more than 28 days is admitted to hospital for a continuous stay of seven full days or more.

Neonatal care leave will be paid subject to the employee meeting the following conditions:

Continue reading “New UK Law Offers Expanded Leave and Job Protection for Parents and Carers”

On 10 May 2023, the Department for Business and Trade published the policy paper “Smarter Regulation to Grow the Economy.” In the government’s words, there are “significant quantities of out-of-date, unworkable and unnecessary EU laws still on our statute book.” This policy paper is the first in a series of upcoming regulatory reform announcements with the aim to “improve regulation across the board to reduce burdens, push down the cost of living and drive economic growth.”

The policy paper addresses three key measures that the government affirms will act as a catalyst to achieve this goal. The regulations set to be reformed are:

1. Reducing Working Time Regulations (WTR) reporting burdens;
2. Simplifying the employment regulations that apply when a business transfers to a new owner (TUPE); and
3. Reforming noncompete clauses to boose competition and innovation.

Continue reading “Deparment for Business and Trade Publishes ‘Smarter Regulation to Grow the Economy’ Policy Paper”

The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill was announced by the government on 22 September 2022. If enacted, it would have required all retained EU law (REUL) to be expressly transferred into UK law by 31 December 2023, or any such legislation would cease to be law in the UK. This would have impacted a range of employment regulations, including the Working Time Regulations 1998, the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) and Agency Worker Regulations.

Unsurprisingly, there was a large amount of opposition to the bill, not least because of the scope of legislation that would be impacted.

Continue reading “Government Announcement – Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill”

On 15 March 2023, the UK government delivered their Spring Budget for 2023. The government stated that the strategy behind the Spring Budget is to promote “long-term sustainable growth”, with a focus on four key priorities: employment, education, enterprise and everywhere.

The government website states that it will prioritise employment, “ensuring the economy has the labour supply needed to boost growth and improve living standards”, and that the “Spring Budget delivers an ambitious package to increase labour supply and ensure the UK continues to attract global talent.”

The government aims to increase labour supply among four key groups:

Continue reading “Spring Budget 2023: What Does it Mean for Employers?”