Labour and the new employment rights bill

On 21st October 2024 the Labour party (the governing party of the UK) introduced the employment rights bill. It is intended to enhance the rights of workers and follows a lack of change to the laws around employment for UK workers.

What is contained in the bill?

Zero hour contracts

Zero hour contracts will be banned and instead employers will be expected to provide either guaranteed hours or reasonable notice of shifts for their employees, failure to do so will meant the employee can be subject to compensation from their employer.

Statutory rights changes – Day one employment rights

Employees will gain more rights from the very first day of employment, such as protection against unfair dismissal and access to unpaid parental leave and paternity leave without needing a qualifying period of employment. Previously the employee needed to be holding the job for 2 years for this to take effect.

Flexible Working

Employees will have greater rights to request flexible working arrangements, with employers needing to provide clear and reasonable justifications if they deny these. This is a more modern approach and has been adopted by many companies already, issues such as cover for smaller businesses has yet to be seen however.

Fire and Rehire Restrictions

Employers will face new restrictions on “fire and rehire” practices, making it automatically unfair to dismiss employees simply to offer them less favourable contract terms​. Practices such as this can be seen in companies such as British Gas whereby they made changes to organisations finance obligations by firing staff and changing their job roles to include less pay and reduced benefits.

Harassment Protections

The bill expands protections against workplace harassment, requiring employers to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent harassment, including third-party harassment, and includes whistle-blower protections for those reporting sexual harassment​.

In summary

Overall, the Employment Rights Bill 2024 is designed to provide greater job security, promote fairness in the workplace, and support workers’ rights across the UK, while also balancing the needs of businesses. Some of the provisions will not take effect until 2026.

To enforce the rules a new government body called the ‘Fair work agency’ has been been created, their job will be to enforce compliance with the rules and enforce penalties should it see a violation occur.

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