What is the new Employment Rights Bill (2024-25)?

 The UK Government is currently in consultation in regards to the Employment Rights Bill 2024-25, This new bill looks to tackle a few issues that are currently being faced by Employee’s & Trade Unions within the respective workplaces. The Bill was originally introduced to commons on the 10th October 2024 and is the 11th Bill on the docket in the 2024-25 Parliamentary Session and has recently had it’s second reading on the 21st October 2024. 

 Where as this Bill could be very useful in the current economic climate with actions it’s looking to take, we also need to look at why the bill is being introduced. Employment Law within the last decade has seen relatively little new legislation introduced apart from two significant items being the Trade Union Act of 2016 (Which imposed several restrictions on Unions with how they can operate) & the Strikes (Minimal Service Level) Act 2023 which ensures there is a set minimal service level during industrial action in key sectors. These acts saw opposition from the Trade Unions & Labour Party (Who intend to repeal the acts) as it takes away from the mission of Trade Union’s to create better working conditions for workers within the UK across all sectors. Previous Governments have also allowed bad practices in employment to take root in many sectors across the UK including 0-Hour contracts, Unfair Dismissal as well as Fire & Rehire practices. Such practices do not stimulate economic growth as they take away from the working population & do not allow employee’s to freely work without protection from corporations looking to maximise profits at the expense of it’s employee’s.

The Bill being introduced by the current Labour Government was outlined in the Labour Party’s pre-election June 2024 “Make Work Pay”. The Bill is looking to address several major topics as listed;

  • Zero hours contracts – introducing a right to reasonable notice of shifts and to be offered a contract with guaranteed hours, reflecting hours regularly worked.
  • Flexible working – requiring employers to justify the refusal of flexible working requests.
  • Statutory sick pay – removing the three-day waiting period (so employees are eligible from the first day of illness or injury) and the lower earnings limit test for eligibility.
  • Family leave – removing the qualifying period for paternity leave and ordinary parental leave (so employees have the right from the first day of employment), and expanding eligibility for bereavement leave.
  • Protection from harassment – expanding employers’ duties to prevent harassment of staff.
  • Unfair dismissal – removing the two-year qualifying period (so employees are protected from unfair dismissal from the first day of employment), subject to a potential probationary period.
  • Fire and rehire – making it automatically unfair to dismiss workers because they refuse to agree to a variation of contract.
  • Sectoral collective bargaining – reintroducing the School Staff Negotiating Body and creating an Adult Social Care Negotiating Body, which could determine pay and other terms and conditions for workers in these sectors.
  • Trade unions – introducing rights for trade unions to access workplaces, and repealing the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 and most provisions of the Trade Union Act 2016.
  • Enforcement – bringing together powers of existing labour market enforcement bodies, along with some new powers, under the Secretary of State and enforcement officers.

 With the introduction of this Bill, Employee’s rights will be expanded alongside the power that Trade Union’s will hold within workplaces to hold Employers responsible for issues that arise within workplaces. Further information can be found within the Research Briefings made available on the 23rd October 2024.  

All Links have been sourced from parliament.uk & Common’s Library.

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